After several unsuccessful attempts to organize a fight, it seems that the former UFC middleweight champion, Australian Robert Whittaker, and the former challenger for the title in the same weight category, Brazilian Paulo Costa, still reached a consensus.
After two previously failed bookings, Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa will once again try to make a fight happen, this time at UFC 298.
UFC CEO Dana White announced on Thursday that former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (24-7 MMA, 15-5 UFC) will take on Paulo Costa (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at the Feb. 17 event, which takes place at Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif., with a main card that airs on pay-per-view following prelims expected on ESPN and ESPN+.
Robert Whittaker, No. 5 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie middleweight rankings, and No. 11-ranked Paulo Costa were previously linked to a main event matchup in April 2021, but Costa was forced to withdraw due to an illness. They were again targeted for UFC 284 in February 2022, but Costa claimed he never signed a contract after UFC announced the fight.
Robert Whittaker, 33, will hope to restart another run toward the belt after a stunning second-round TKO loss to Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 in July. Paulo Costa, 32, meanwhile, will fight for the first time since an August 2022 win over Luke Rockhold at UFC 278, which has been followed by a number of scratched bouts, including his removal from an anticipated matchup with Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 in October.
The latest UFC 298 lineup now includes:
- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria – for featherweight title
- Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker
- Ian Garry vs. Geoff Neal
- Amanda Lemos vs. Tatiana Suarez
- Tai Tuivasa vs. Marcin Tybura
- Ikram Aliskerov vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Andrea Lee vs. Miranda Maverick
- Marcos Rogerio vs. Justin Tafa
- Brady Hiestand vs. Rinya Nakamura
- Zhang Mingyang vs. Brendson Ribeiro
- Oban Elliott vs. Val Woodburn
- Danny Barlow vs. Yusaku Kinoshita
