MIAMI — The light heavyweight division has a new player. Paulo Costa is breathing new life into a career that stalled out more than five years ago. A vicious head kick knock out over Azamat Murzakanov at UFC 327 suddenly puts Costa into title contention.
Costa seemed to be the next big thing heading into the 2020s. Chiseled out of stone and wielding tremendous power, “The Eraser” looked like a world beater after knocking out former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks, Uriah Hall, and beating Yoel Romero in a classic encounter. Then he got knocked out by middleweight champ Israel Adesanya. That might all be behind him after Saturday night.
Costa made his second light heavyweight appearance in Miami, one more intentionally than the planned middleweight fight with Marvin Vettori that was moved to light heavyweight due to Costa’s egregious weight miss. Costa leaned on his signature power kick, putting away Murzakanov, a lauded striker who entered at No. 6 in the division. Costa’s previous success against southpaws served him well. He repeatedly thumped Murzakanov with nasty body kicks. Costa’s orthodox stance allowed him to dig the kicks straight to the body.
In Round 3, Costa made a crucial fight-ending adjustment. Having mentally prepared Murzakanov for the body kicks, Costa switched and went high. He rocked Murzakanov with one head kick before putting him down for good with another.
Suddenly, the thought of Costa fighting for the light heavyweight title doesn’t sound far-fetched. His power carried up a division without the burdens of cutting weight. He may be ranked at No. 6 come Monday, with maybe one or two fights between him and the light heavyweight title. While Costa wouldn’t commit to either division in his post-fight interview, the upside appears to be in a new weight class nearly a decade into his UFC tenure.
