Former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker is set to fight Paulo Costa on April 17 at UFC Fight Night 190, confirmed ESPN after an initial report by Sherdog.com.
Although UFC has not formally introduced the fight or its location, reviews claim that both the middleweights have agreed to fight one another on the aforementioned date.
UFC officials confirm, Robert Whittaker (@robwhittakermma) vs. Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) will headline an event on April 17. Five rounds. How good is this? pic.twitter.com/mexXsiqWuF
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) January 26, 2021
Robert Whittaker is coming off a pair of victories after he suffered his first middleweight loss by the hands of Israel Adesanya in a title conflict at UFC 243. ‘The Reaper’ scored two large wins in opposition to Darren Until and Jared Cannonier, stirring up his pursuit of as soon as again competing for the title.
Nonetheless, with Adesanya moving up one weight class to challenge Jan Blachowicz for the UFC mild heavyweight championship, Whittaker is expected to struggle with Paulo Costa instead.
‘Borrachinha’ finally fought Adesanya at UFC 253 for the middleweight title and was comfortably defeated by ‘The Final Stylebender’ within the second spherical of the fight. The Brazilian has since been seeking a struggle in opposition to Robert Whittaker with the interim middleweight championship on the line.
Will Paulo Costa vs. Robert Whittaker fight for an interim title?
Despite the agreement between Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker, their fight will not be for the UFC interim middleweight championship, according to Sherdog.com.
On January 2, Costa’s supervisor, Wallid Ismail, proposed a conflict between Borrachinha and Whittaker with an interim title on the line.
With Israel Adesanya set to challenge for the light heavyweight belt, Paulo Costa's manager is calling for a middleweight interim title fight between Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker. Is this the fight to make? 🤔
Source, MMA Fighting: https://t.co/YeLroSEKQG pic.twitter.com/1wNkKK3Igx
— MMA On Point (@OnPointMMA) January 2, 2021
Nonetheless, it appears as if the highest two contenders within the middleweight division won’t lay a declare to the interim championship once they step into the octagon on April 17.
After defeating Jared Cannonier at UFC 254, Robert Whittaker had stated that he needs to enjoy a while off along with his household, however, The Reaper didn’t directly brush aside the thought of a possible rematch with Israel Adesanya.
With Whittaker not being accessible for just a few months, The Final Stylebender decided to make a bounce to the 205-pound division and problem Jan Blachowicz for the light heavyweight title.
As of now, apart from the Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa struggle, UFC Battle Night 190 is predicted to host one other middleweight bout between Gerald Meerschaert vs. Bartosz Fabiński.
