Paulo Costa reveals he made just $35,000 for Marvin Vettori fight last year, says he’s “looking forward to being a free agent”

Paulo Costa believes he needs to be paid much more.

In the lead-up to his UFC 278 fight against Luke Rockhold, Costa said it was the final fight of his deal and he would test free agency. However, on Monday, the Brazilian clarified those comments and revealed he actually had one more fight on his deal.

Although Costa has one more fight on his deal, he still wants to test free agency due to what he’s getting paid. According to the former middleweight title challenger, he only made $35,000 for his main event fight against Marvin Vettori last year which is way too low.

“I have one more, I didn’t know, I thought this was the last one but I have one more. I’m looking forward to being a free agent for sure, I will not lie to you. I’d (thought) this was the last one of this contract,” Paulo Costa said on The MMAHour. “I really believe it’s not just for me, it’s for everybody. I’m on a high, high level, fighting the best of this division and my contract is too old. When I fought Marvin Vettori, I got $35,000. $35,000. For this one was a couple more, a couple more, I got the win bonus, and because when I fought Marvin Vettori, I got a 20% reduction.”

As Costa says, he did have to owe Vettori 20 percent of his purse, and not getting his win bonus does bring his pay down quite a bit. However, he still isn’t happy with his deal and says he won’t be rushing up to sign a new deal, rather he needs to talk with the UFC and figure it out.

“I need to talk with them and see,” Costa added. “I’m not rushing up to see, but we need to see, we need to figure it out. I’m not happy with the current contract, of course.”

With the decision win over Luke Rockhold at UFC 278, Costa snapped his two-fight losing skid and is now 14-2.

What do you make of Paulo Costa only making $35k for his fight against Marvin Vettori?