Whether the outcomes are good or bad, you know you’re always in for some kind of chaos when approaching a Paulo Costa fight week.
The Brazilian powerhouse is guaranteed to be value for money when he steps inside the Octagon even if getting him to that point has been a difficult process in recent years.
A lot of fans have been able to look past his controversies regarding pulling out of fights and missing weight in the past because he always delivers a great contest on fight night.
The exact same can be said for his upcoming match-up with Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 where despite this fight being put together in the past only to not happen, the contest itself should be an incredible watch.
A brilliant clash of styles between the technical striking of Whittaker versus the marauding style of Paulo Costa has fans cautiously excited but despite this narrative, one fighter believes that the danger that “Borrachinha” brings to the table needs a second look.
Anthony Smith Questions Paulo Costa’s Ability To Put Opponents Away
Despite the aggression and power that Paulo Costa uses as his two main weapons, the Brazilian hasn’t finished an opponent since his win over Uriah Hall in 2018.
To his credit, the past six years have seen him face off with some incredibly durable opponents with the likes of Yoel Romero and Marvin Vettori on his record.
He struggled to land anything too significant on Israel Adesanya and his last fight with Luke Rockhold is hard to take any kind of notes from given the absolute mayhem of that entire contest.
On the latest episode of the Believe You Me podcast, Anthony Smith called into question the power of Costa when discussing the threat that he can pose to Whittaker.
Paulo Costa hasn’t been able to put any opponents away since making that jump into the top tier of the middleweight division and Smith believes that this aura around him needs to seriously be looked at ahead of this fight.
“I know that everyone’s going to get mad at me when I say this but Paulo’s always been regarded as this crazy heavy hitter knockout artist like he hasn’t knocked out anybody in a while. Is he explosive and aggressive and he does land a lot of shots absolutely but think of the last person he flatlined. I couldn’t even tell you off the top of my head. He was in there with Luke, he had Luke hurt a couple of times and wasn’t able to put him out.”