Paulo Costa claims UFC offers very little money to Brazilian fighters

Paulo Costa recently pulled out of his UFC 284 bout with Robert Whittaker, citing what he believes was not a fair contract offer. The No.6-ranked middleweight, who has been very vocal about his contract dispute with the UFC, claimed that the promotion doesn't offer fair pay to Brazilian fighters.

No troll job. Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker will NOT fight at UFC 284 in February, per sources. More info coming to ESPN. https://t.co/LWTAyKgSUL

Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Paula Costa stated:

"I think they just actually offer very low numbers for Brazilians. I don't know what they figure. Maybe they figure, 'ah, that motherf**ker lives in Brazil, the jungle, they don't need real money because the currency is like five times less than dollars so let's pay bulls**t.' That thing that I told you before, the mentality of Brazilians is, 'okay, I agree, let's do.'

Costa continued:

"I did that and I know the Brazilians do that a lot. No no, doesn't care who you want to put to fight me. I don't care about the number or where my opponent is on the rank just to go there and fight and that's okay, but this is horrible for the business. I really don't care for who I fight, but if it's worth money, I will take leverage from that."

Costa has claimed that he never signed a contract to face Robert Whittaker at UFC 284 and that the UFC attempted to promote the fight to help sell the card. He did, however, note that he would be willing to face the No.2-ranked middleweight if the promotion presented him with a fair offer.

Watch Paulo Costa's full comments on how the UFC compensates Brazilian fighters below (starting at the 9:27 mark):

Paulo Costa shared that he did not receive a contract offer

Paulo Costa's UFC 284 bout with Robert Whittaker has been canceled. The No.6-ranked middleweight recently shared that there was no fight to cancel as he never received a contract. Speaking to Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Costa stated:

"UFC promoted that post, me against Robert... That was pretty, pretty fake news because I didn't get a contract or terms or nothing to fight him... They just said, 'if you want to fight Whittaker, let's do that fight', but I cannot do that fight, fight the No.1 or No.2 high level guy like Whittaker for the same money that I'm getting since 2017. Not make sense."

'Borrachinha' claimed that he was paid $35,000 for his last four fights, including his UFC 253 title fight against Israel Adesanya. It remains to be seen if the UFC will meet his contract demands to re-schedule his bout against Whittaker at UFC 284.

Watch Paulo Costa's full comments on the cancelation of his UFC 284 bout with Robert Whittaker below:

.@BorrachinhaMMA calls the initially announced fight against Robert Whittaker "fake news" 😬 #TheMMAHour

"I cannot do that fight, fight the No. 1 or No. 2, high level guy like Whittaker for the same money I’m getting since 2017. Doesn’t make sense.”

▶️ youtu.be/r_IUsVmrFhM https://t.co/myFsyqGQQr