UFC fighter Tracy Cortez indicates that a selfie taken with fellow sports star Paulo Costa was misinterpreted online, leading to rumors of a romantic relationship, however, they, including Costa’s fiancée, decided to play along with the misinformation for humor and have now clarified that the photo was purely taken to share with their mutual manager, Tiki Ghosn.
Tracy Cortez, a name well-known within the MMA community, stirred quite a bit of pot when she was featured in a selfie with fellow UFC fighter Paulo Costa. The image seemed innocent to the duo, however, it led many fans to speculate that there existed a romantic relationship between the two. This assumption was mistaken, as Costa quickly clarified on Twitter by stating that they were just friends who had taken a selfie for a mutual acquaintance.
In reality, Cortez was simply training in Brazil with Costa and his team. The notorious photo was taken during an evening when she invited everyone to a get-together at an Airbnb to enjoy dinner and stream a UFC pay-per-view event. Upon realizing that both fighters shared a manager in Tiki Ghosn, Costa suggested taking a picture together which later became a topic of discussion online.
Cortez reflected on the frenzy by saying: ‘“Costa goes, ‘Hey, I didn’t know you were managed by Tiki,’” I said, ‘Yeah, that’s my manager, let’s send him a picture.’” The following day, Tiki responded and the picture was uploaded online. The image instantly blew over and caused quite a stir – something which Cortez found amusing. Despite this, she decided to stay quiet about the situation and let it run its course.
Even though Cortez, Costa and Costa’s fiancee were in on this joke, they allowed fans to speculate until it was time to clear up any misdirected gossip. Cortez had sported a positive perspective towards her interaction with the online MMA community, and didn’t mind to mischievously lead people on for a few days. Nonetheless, with a 5-0 record in the UFC and a bright career ahead, she also took this as a learning experience, promising herself to keep her personal life more private in the future.