Fresh off an important victory over former champion Luke Rockhold, middleweight contender Paulo Costa (14-2) might be preparing to make some big changes in his career. Although he doesn’t know exactly when yet, the Brazilian believes the time has come to move to the United States in order to keep moving forward.
In an interview with Super Lutas, ‘Borrachinha’ explained some of the reasons why he would like to leave Brazil behind and live in the United States. Surprisingly, though, Costa doesn’t seem interested in becoming part of any of the notable MMA supercamps based in the US if (or when) he does make the move. Instead, the 31-year-old made clear his preference for individualized, personal training sessions.
“It’s a real possibility and it may be happening very soon,” Costa said of a permanent move to America. “The more I spend time here (in the United States), the more I think about and the less I think about going back. I do still have my family back there (in Brazil), so we’ll see.”
“I don’t like teams.” Costa added. “I believe training should be personalized, individualized. This is not football, but I do think there are some nice gyms out there. It’s important to have a gym. There are some in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Los Andes, Floridas, Texas. Lots of places.”
The win over Rockhold marked Costa’s first victory since a unanimous decision win over Yoel Romero, in August 2019. Before beating the former champion at UFC 278, the 30-year-old was on a two-fight skid, with defeats at the hands of Marvin Vettori and Israel Adesanya.
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