UFC 298 will see former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (24-7 MMA) taking on Paulo Costa (14-2 MMA) in the co-main event on Saturday, February 17th, at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Robert Whittaker, 33, last fought and was defeated by Dricus Du Plessis (21-2 MMA) by TKO in July of last year at UFC 290.
Paulo Costa, 32, has not fought since August of 2022 when he defeated Luke Rockhold (16-6 MMA) by unanimous decision at UFC 278.
‘Borrachinha’ has a bit of a history of having fights cancelled or rebooked during the last couple of years.
Robert Whittaker, speaking on ‘The MMA Hour‘, shared that he’s not worried about Paulo Costa ‘showing up’:
“Not really. t’s always so funny with contracts and contract signing. I didn’t even realize that was a thing? ‘I haven’t signed’ or whatever. UFC comes here and they say, ‘Hey, do you want to fight X on this date?’ And I say yes, right? When I say I’m in for something, that’s it, I’m down. Doesn’t matter whether I sign the contract today or sign it two days before the fight, I said I’ll be there, that’s what I’m doing.”
Continuing ‘The Reaper’ said:
“Whether or not I was worried about it actually falling through, not really. Like other times, I would fight someone. UFC would get me to fight someone. And I think it’s a good fight for him, I think it’s a good fight for me, we’re both high-level middleweights, we’re both trying to work our way back to the top of the food chain. I don’t see any reason for him not to.”
Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa were initially scheduled to fight in February of last year at UFC 284, but that fight was cancelled due to Costa being unable to come to terms with the UFC on a new deal.