Paulo Costa turns down opportunity to headline UFC on ABC 2 card vs. Robert Whittaker

UFC middleweight contender Paulo Costa has turned down the chance to main event the UFC’s next big ABC card on April 10, Fight News Australia reports.

The fight night main event has been slated to take place on April 17 for a few weeks now, but the Ultimate Fighting Championship wanted to push it forward seven days and have it headline the promotion’s return to ABC.

However, the aforementioned report indicates that Costa would prefer to stick with the April 17 date.

The man himself is dying to get another chance to fight Israel Adesanya for the Middleweight Championship, and after the first bout between them, Costa “revealed” that he didn’t feel like he went into the contest at 100%.

“Maybe I could have used more in the Adesanya fight, but many things happened before that fight,” Costa said (via MMAFighting). “I don’t like to talk because it might sound as excuse, but I had no sleep, my leg was totally impaired, and I shouldn’t have fought, I should have postponed it for the next weekend or more.”

“I saw what happened with Patricky (Freire), who fights for Bellator — and has the same coach, Eric Albarracin —, and his team did the right thing,” he continued. “He didn’t wake up well, had labyrinthitis on the day of the fight, feeling dizzy, (so) he doesn’t have to fight. We’re in such a high level that you don’t have to fight if you don’t feel well. It was our mistake.”

“He’s an agile fighter, fast, but doesn’t convince me. He didn’t convince me,” Costa said of Adesanya. “It’s hard to say, I lost to him and won’t be right. I can say whatever I want and I won’t be right, it will sound salty, but, in reality, he doesn’t convince me. I can fight him 10 times and all 10 times will be different.”

Will Paulo Costa be able to overcome the challenge of Robert Whittaker?