Sean Strickland goes to make Paulo Costa bleed.
On Saturday, June 1, Final Combating Championship returns to the Prudential Middle in Newark, New Jersey for a stacked night time of fights headlined by a light-weight title conflict between reigning champion Islam Makhachev and No. 4 ranked contender Dustin Poirier.
Additionally scheduled to go down that night time is a high-stakes middleweight showdown between former titleholder Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa.
Initially, Costa claimed that Strickland had turned down the proposed battle which prompted ‘Tarzan’ to make clear that he didn’t flip down the battle — he turned down the UFC’s lowball provide to battle on seven weeks’ discover. That has since been resolved, ensuing within the bout being formally introduced by Dana White in the course of the UFC 300 post-fight press convention.
Gearing up for his or her summertime scrap, Strickland despatched his opponent a message on Instagram in an unsurprisingly Strickland-esque means.
“You already know, you guys, I like Costa. He’s a humorous man. He makes me giggle. He’s pro-free speech. I like that man,” Strickland mentioned in a video. “However I’m going to make that soiled Brazilian bleed. I’m going to do it for Brazil as a result of Brazil doesn’t even like Costa. So, hey, Brazil, that is for you guys. Let’s get it accomplished.”
Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa Trying to get again within the win column
UFC 302 can be Sean Strickland’s first battle since surrendering the 185-pound crown to present champ Dricus Du Plessis.
‘Tarzan’ lobbied laborious for an instantaneous rematch with ‘Stillknocks,’ however with the promotion intent on reserving DDP’s first title protection towards two-time titleholder Israel Adesanya, Strickland should battle down within the rankings earlier than bagging one other shot at UFC gold.
Competing for the primary time in a yr and a half, Costa returned at UFC 288 for a battle with Robert Whittaker. ‘The Eraser’ got here up quick, struggling a unanimous resolution defeat by the hands of ‘The Reaper.’
