Fellow middleweight Caio Borralho criticized Paulo Costa‘s performance in his loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC 298, suggesting that Costa failed to correct past mistakes and did not perform as well in the fight as he does in training.
Paulo Costa’s loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 left many scratching their heads. Fellow middleweight Caio Borralho was among those puzzled. He couldn’t understand why Costa, or “Borrachinha,” as he’s known, kept repeating the same mistakes in his fights.
Borralho shared his thoughts on MMA Fighting’s Trocação Franca podcast. He expressed admiration for Costa as an athlete, but suggested he needed to go back to the drawing board. His game, Borralho said, needed some serious work.
What concerned Borralho most was Costa’s inability to avoid calf kicks. The same kicks Israel Adesanya had landed on him. “The same kicks. Again,” Borralho lamented. He was baffled by Costa’s apparent blindness to this vulnerability. “Can’t you see this?” he asked, rhetorically.
Borralho explained that when Costa stood on his lead leg to throw right hands, he was inviting kicks to his calf. “That’s basic these days,” he said. He thought Costa’s problem was a lack of adjustments. Despite being a dangerous and athletic fighter, Costa seemed to lack adaptability.
Borralho had trained with Costa in the past. He admired Costa’s gym performance but questioned his ability to replicate it on fight night. Costa had started his MMA career with 13 straight victories and 11 knockouts. However, since stopping Uriah Hall in July 2018, he hadn’t been able to finish anyone.
“Borrachinha is a machine,” Borralho said. But he felt that Costa couldn’t translate his gym performance into the ring. Whether it was over-training or something else, Borralho wasn’t sure. But he was certain Costa wasn’t fighting as well as he trained.
The judges’ unanimous decision in favor of Whittaker didn’t surprise Borralho. He even teased Costa on social media for thinking he could have won. He found it amusing that Costa believed his spinning heel kick in the first round had won him the fight.
Borralho was adamant that Costa hadn’t done enough to win. He pointed out that Costa had only thrown a handful of the straight rights that had knocked out so many opponents in his career. He didn’t act to win the fight, Borralho said.
Whittaker, on the other hand, was scoring consistently. He was using his experience, even though Borralho felt Whittaker was fading in his career. Despite this, Whittaker had managed to win with his experience, scoring in the third round to secure a clear victory.
Costa is set to return to action on June 1, facing former 185-pound champion Sean Strickland at UFC 302. As for Borralho, he’s up against Paul Craig at UFC 301 on May 4 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.