Ahead of his upcoming fight against former champion Sean Strickland, UFC middleweight Paulo Costa has enlisted the help of two former Olympic boxers.
In order to prepare himself for the striking-heavy style of former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland, fan-favorite Brazilian brawler Paulo Costa has turned to two former Olympic boxers for help – only to somewhat pit them against each other.
Paulo Costa takes on Sean Strickland in key fight at UFC 302
Paulo Costa returns to action this weekend in the co-main event of UFC 302, set to go down on June 1 from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
The Brazilian is looking to bounce back from his unanimous decision loss to Robert Whittaker and rise the rankings once again in the hope of securing a second title shot: He currently holds the #8 spot, with opponent Sean Strickland ranked #1.
Strickland himself is also eyeing a return to the win column in Newark, having lost his UFC middleweight title to South African Dricus du Plessis earlier this year – at the time of writing, Strickland is a slight betting favorite over ‘The Eraser’.
Paulo Costa enlists two former Olympic boxers ahead of Strickland
Sean Strickland was able to earn the middleweight title with his relentless pressure and outstanding striking output, and that’s likely the same gameplan that ‘Tarzan’ will employ against Costa this weekend.
In turn, the Brazilian has enlisted the support of two former Olympic boxers-turned-trainers to help him prepare for what could be a make-or-break fight for Costa’s title aspirations.
As revealed in UFC 302 Countdown, Costa has teamed up with Kelson Pinto (who competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Australia), and Edvaldo ‘Badola’ Gonzaga (who fought at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Greece).
“I met Kelson Pinto at the UFC PI [when] I was killing myself while I trained,” explained Costa, sharing how Pinto “taught me how to be more efficient” with his striking.
“Edvaldo Badola [Gonzaga] is a boxing coach as well; same lineage as Kelson and he was an Olympic athlete as well… So, we are just trying to mix the styles to get the best point of each one.”
Intentional or otherwise, the Countdown clip of Costa training with the Olympic-level boxers featured the two debating a particular technique with the UFC superstar bouncing between the two for advice.
Gonzaga himself teased that Costa is a special athlete when it comes to MMA and that Strickland has “never fought a guy like ‘Borrachinha’,” especially as the Brazilian fine-tunes his weapons.
“Paulo’s evolution as a fighter keeps increasing. We’re dreaming about the UFC belt. We know that if we get past this opponent, the belt is right there. We’ll challenge for it again.”
Yet the fight with Strickland will undoubtedly be an incredibly difficult stylistic matchup to overcome for Costa, who knows the importance of having such distinguished boxing coaches in his corner.
“He [Strickland] knows how to fight very well [and] to have a great boxing coach on my side will help out a lot, especially with him, because he’s basically a boxer fighting in MMA… I have a good strategy to beat him.”
“I’m a visceral fighter,” teased Costa, before acknowledging that “The fight can finish at any time; South Americans are great fighters, and we want to show how tough we are.”
“My ultimate goal is to put my name in the history of the UFC [and] that’s what I promise. I will entertain everyone, [and] I always chase for the title, that’s why I want to fight Sean Strickland – I know one more victory and I’m there.”
Paulo Costa vs Sen Strickland is the co-main event of UFC 302, set to go down on June 1 live from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.