Paulo Costa

Paulo Henrique Costa, born April 21, 1991 in Belo Horizonte, is a mixed martial artist from Brazil, representing the middleweight category. He started his professional career in 2012 and established himself with his performances in the UFC and Jungle Fight organizations. Costa was also the holder of the Jungle Fight middleweight championship title and ranks 6th in the official UFC ranking in this weight category.

In 2014, Paulo Costa became a participant in the third Brazilian season of the popular fighting reality show The Ultimate Fighter. During the qualifying stage, he used the "guillotine" to force Jose Robert to surrender, and was included in the team of Vanderlei Silva.

At the quarterfinals stage, he met Marcio Alexandri Jr. and was defeated by a split decision of the judges after three rounds. In 2015, after becoming the middleweight champion of Face to Face, Costa moved to the prestigious Brazilian Jungle Fight league. Here he also won the middleweight title, successfully defending it in three fights. With eight wins without defeats on the account, Paulo Costa attracted the attention of the world fighting organization Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and signed a long-term contract with her. His debut in the UFC octagon took place in March 2017, when he defeated Garrett McLellan from South Africa by technical knockout and was awarded a bonus for the best performance of the evening.

In the same 2017, he also scored early victories over Oluwale Bamgbose and Joni Hendrix.

In July 2018, he defeated Yuri Hall by technical knockout and received another award for the best performance of the evening.

In 2019, at UFC 241, his significant fight against Yoel Romero took place, which Costa won by unanimous decision.

The most stellar fight for him was the fight at UFC 253 in 2020, when he fought Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title. However, Costa was defeated by technical knockout in this match.