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Paulo Costa has fired back at Sean Strickland amid ongoing rumors of a potential fight against him. The MMA community has lately been rife with speculation that the UFC is likely to book Costa against Strickland next.
‘Tarzan’ had previously spoken about possibly facing Costa inside the octagon. In a tweet posted in November 2021, Strickland jibed at Costa and suggested that he wanted to fight him.
In late 2020, Costa famously blamed his loss to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya on drinking too much wine the night before the fight. Strickland alluded to that, asserting he’d like to fight Costa, provided the latter can put down the wine.
Intriguingly, fellow UFC middleweight Darren Till had expressed interest in fighting Strickland. Nevertheless, ‘Tarzan’ clarified that he’s not looking to fight Till but would fight either Costa or Jack Hermansson. Strickland’s tweet read as follows:
“Instagram blocked me, joked about a pedophile dying and I guess they didn't like it lol!!!! Anyways I'm not fighting Darren Till. I want Costa and if Costa can't put down the wine and cookies I want Jack.”
Paulo Costa has now added fuel to his long-running feud against Strickland by seemingly accepting his challenge. ‘The Eraser’ has posted a tweet comprising a phrase in English as well as one in Brazilian Portuguese:
The English phrase reads as follows – “Let’s do it rat.” Meanwhile, the Brazilian Portuguese phrase roughly translates to – “We'll see if he really is a bully.”
Chael Sonnen believes “golden goose” Sean Strickland could receive title shot by beating Paulo Costa
Strickland is currently on a six-fight win streak and has established himself as a legitimate contender at middleweight. Furthermore, he has showcased a more vocal version of himself recently, which has skyrocketed his popularity in the MMA world.
In an edition of Beyond the Fight, MMA legend Chael Sonnen indicated that Strickland could be the UFC’s next big draw. Sonnen then discussed a potential Strickland-Costa matchup.
Costa was comfortably beaten by reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in 2020 and is on a two-fight losing streak. Considering that, Sonnen opined that Costa is unlikely to receive a title shot even if he beats Strickland. Nevertheless, if Strickland were to beat Costa, he’d probably be granted a title shot by the UFC. Sonnen said:
"It is crystal clear Sean Strickland (is) one win away (from a title shot)…If we got our next golden goose in Sean Strickland… it doesn’t matter who Sean beats, Sean just has to get a match in between now and the next availability to a world title fight.”
Watch Inside scoop: Sean Strickland vs Paulo Costa.
