A middleweight fight between former champion Robert Whittaker and veteran Paulo Costa will be the co-main event of UFC 298. Whittaker and Costa will compete against each other. Both of them are scheduled to compete against one another on February 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Whittaker is currently ranked third in the middleweight division, while Costa has dropped out of the top five for the first time and is now ranked sixth. Both of the combatants competing in UFC 298 had suffered defeats in two of their most recent three bouts, including a title battle against Israel Adesanya, who was formerly the champion.
Costa, on the other hand, has only competed three times in the past four years, and his only victory came against an aged Luke Rockhold. Rockhold immediately announced his retirement after their Fight of the Night encounter at UFC 278. The circumstances surrounding Costa’s situation are extremely precarious.
After his battle against Whittaker, Costa is said to have four more fights left on his contract. In order to go back into the conversation of whether or not he should be a contender for the title, Costa will need to continually put in solid performances.
Adesanya was defeated by Whittaker in both of their title battles, but Whittaker was unable to prevail over him on both occasions. In light of the fact that “The Last Stylebender” stands above all other competitors in the pecking order as a result of his dominant rule, Whittaker will also need to put together a good winning streak in order to justify a shot at the title.
Nevertheless, in the event that Adesanya does not return, the victorious fighter at UFC 298 might qualify for a title eliminator against either Khamzat Chimaev or Sean Strickland. whereas the loser will have some work to do in order to come back to a position where they can compete for the championship.
Paulo Costa dismisses potential fight against Khamzat Chimaev after UFC 298
There is a disagreement between Khamzat Chimaev, who has never lost a fight, and Paulo Costa, who is also unbeaten, and the two were supposed to meet each other at UFC 294. On the other hand, Costa withdrew from the fight due to an injury, and Chimaev faced up against Kamaru Usman, a former welterweight champion.
Costa disregarded what ‘Borz’ has accomplished in the middleweight category and questioned his wins when he was asked if he was interested in fighting Chimaev following UFC 298, which was one of the events that took place.
It was emphasized by Costa that Chimaev needs to improve his performance, and he indicated that he will not be able to win the title before Chimaev.
“It is common knowledge that I do not like the person. On the other hand, I don’t believe that a lot of people take him seriously anymore. In the middleweight division, he did not secure a victory over any of the top 15 competitors. What gives you the right to take this guy seriously? When given only ten days’ notice, he was only able to narrowly defeat Kamaru Usman. However, once I have defeated Whittaker, I shall no longer hear his name. He is a jerk. Something needs to be done by him. In the middleweight division, he needs to defeat someone who is ranked at least in the top ten… As far as I can see, he is not capable of doing it. It is not possible for me to believe that he will attempt to challenge me for the belt before I do.
