Media Paulo Costa speaks after losing to Robert Whittaker

[MMAFanCal]

Really like the idea of a khamzat fight in theory, but good chance it proves to be a grappling exchange with boring results. Mostly Costa on his back.

Costa is too big and too strong for Khamzat with an insanely good TDD. He was easily stuffing Yoel Romero's takedowns. Khamzat was getting taken down by a true 155'er Burns. No way Khamzat takes him down.

 

[nonoob]

Speaking of a perfect world, an All-MW PPV would be spectacular right now.

Du Plesis vs Adesanya
Strickland vs Whittaker
Cannonier vs Khamzat
Costa vs Imavov
Hermanson vs Hernandez

Those fights would help to make a legit and merit based division's top 10 lineup.

 

[Substance Abuse]

AV checks out. All Costa did was stand around and stick his tongue out. And he was doing that because Rob was tagging him.

Don't feed him, Jack, lol.

 

[mkt]

Besides the spinning heel kick that would have finished almost any MW, Rob was pitching a shutout.

He was faster than Costa, he hit Costa with combos both blitzing in and when Costa would pressure. He kept Costa from settling down by going after his lead leg whenever he could. Rob dealt with Costa's pressure really well. Rob was one step ahead of Paulo all night.

Saying that all Rob did was spam kicks from out of range is not fair.

Having said that, I have to give credit to Costa. He came in looking really good off of a huge layoff. Which tells me he wasn't just laying around and that he was actually training seriously.

He has a hell of a chin, he ate a bunch of Robs straights and hooks. He clearly has power and showed nice jabs that rocked Robs head back a few times.

The main opportunities in this fight is that he didn't throw combos and that he did not punish Rob on the counter. Rob blitzed in a few times and was in no-mans land begging to be countered, but Costa didn't have it.

Costa definitely came in shape, but he's never developed elite skillsets in any area. In some way he reminds me of Travis Browne, who had the athleticism and raw material to be a better version of Tim Sylvia. But while Sylvia developed a good jab and effective striking game using his height/reach, Browne was never more than a moderately well-rounded brawler. That's pretty much how I'd describe Costa, too.

Costa did well against Romero because Yoel had the same limitations. Great, explosive athlete with a lot of power and strong chin, but didn't put together combos well or have a gameplan to beat another elite fighter besides a flying knee or superman punch KO.

DDP is interesting because he has some similarities with Costa and Yoel but finds ways to beat really good fighters like Whittaker and Strickland. I think his awkward/unorthodox style and ability to follow a gameplan (even when it doesn't seem to be working well) sets him apart from the others.

 

[MMAFanCal]

Costa definitely came in shape, but he's never developed elite skillsets in any area. In some way he reminds me of Travis Browne, who had the athleticism and raw material to be a better version of Tim Sylvia. But while Sylvia developed a good jab and effective striking game using his height/reach, Browne was never more than a moderately well-rounded brawler. That's pretty much how I'd describe Costa, too.

Costa did well against Romero because Yoel had the same limitations. Great, explosive athlete with a lot of power and strong chin, but didn't put together combos well or have a gameplan to beat another elite fighter besides a flying knee or superman punch KO.

DDP is interesting because he has some similarities with Costa and Yoel but finds ways to beat really good fighters like Whittaker and Strickland. I think his awkward/unorthodox style and ability to follow a gameplan (even when it doesn't seem to be working well) sets him apart from the others.

Dricus ran through Whittaker winning the first round 10-9 and then finishing Whittaker in round 2. Not disagreeing with you, but just shows how good Dricus really is.

 

[Dana's Conscience]

I know Costa has been a meme in recent years, but seeing him last night, I think he still beats a lot of very good fighters.

 

[Contempt]

I don't know why I LOLed when he said congrats Hob... probably just easily amused.

 

[Contempt]

A lot better than after Adesanya broke him

Seems like he has grown up a lot since then... then again, it's pretty hard to dislike a guy like Rob... unlike Izzy.

 

[kahymo]

the Costa who fought Romero was full of confidence,
and was not there to play gamepoint fighting

he forgot to mention that his corner was useless
they never had any urgency or sent him to finish the fight in the third to secure the win

 

[Koro_11]

I was entertained, I just don't fancy him. He is annoying.

Which is all the more reason for him to spend less time on Twitter and more time in the cage where he actually is entertaining.

 

[Hdfi]

so Costa thinks it was close.... bruh, it wasn't close.
Whitaker 30-27.

 

[jmboyd24]

Watch the fight again, Rob got pieced by the jab all fight. Costa was actually sitting on his punches which is why he was busting Whit up while Whit was noncommittal on his strikes throwing them while moving with no sting on them.

Rob snapped Costa's head back at least 5 times, and destroyed his lead leg. Both guys were throwing heavy and showed great durability.

 

[TrueBias]

bro which fight did you watch ?
Apart from the end of the first round it was one way traffic the whole fight

Eh. Costa was the only one coming close to finishing, Bobby looked fucked up, and Costa stayed in the center. Theres an arguement.

 

[Royce's Gi]

Next fight to make is

COSTCO VS HAZMAT/SCANSAT!

 

[SalvadorAllende]

Khamzat is not fighting him.

Maybe Hermansson?

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Disagree. Some of those combos from Whittaker need to be viewed in slo-mo. No doubt Paulos got one hell of a chin, but Whittaker actually surprised me with how technical a striker he is. I now understand why fans are so high on him.

Yeah rob has always been slick but his striking offense was probably the best it’s looked

 

[usernamee]

bro which fight did you watch ?
Apart from the end of the first round it was one way traffic the whole fight

I was saying this to some other dude last night who also believed the same thing or even that Costa was beating Rob. Fucking nuts. I didn't listen to the commentary so maybe they were talking up Costa or something? Some of these guys are very impressionable.

 

[ThaiSexPills]

Costa proved, against a top MW that he deserved to be in the top 5. When is Khamzat going to do that? Starting to look like never tbh.

Costa vs Khamzat is the fight to make