Paulo Costa Out, Kelvin Gastelum Steps Up To Fight Jared Cannonier

Former UFC Middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa has pulled out of his proposed match against Jared Cannonier from UFC Fight Night on August 21. To save the fight, Kelvin Gastelum has decided to step up and fight Jared. Paulo has now pulled out of two consecutive bouts. Earlier Costa was supposed to fight Whittaker in April but then he was forced to withdraw due to an illness. Even that time it was Kelvin who stepped up and faced Robert Whittaker on very short notice and now he is about to do it again. Hats off to Gastelum, he is a true example of a fighter who never walks away from any opportunity to fight. Costa has not competed since suffering his first pro loss to Adesanya in a middleweight championship bout at UFC 253 last September.

The reason behind Costa’s withdrawal from the matchup was undisclosed at the beginning but now he has revealed the real reason behind his withdrawal.

“UFC needs to pay me as main (event) fighter to have (fought) in main events,” Costa wrote. “YouTubers are showing all disgrace on this business.”

“Just to be clear,” Costa said. “I never signed or locked up that contract. Why (UFC) announced this fight if (it) didn’t (get) signed? My question too.”

He also talked about YouTubers like Jake Paul making a shit load of money and while real fighters like him are making less than 50% of what they are paying for these fancy boxing matches. Many fighters in recent times have stepped up against the low payrolls UFC has for them. One of the biggest examples of such incidences is the latest and hottest dispute in the game between Jon Jones and UFC. Jon Jones waned heavily to pay for his fight against Francis Ngannou which UFC straight away refused to pay. Jon has still stuck to his proposal and is not letting his guard down by accepting any low offer from the company. Many fighters are now joining this movement and demanding a higher pay scale which they deserve. Even a guy like Jake Paul supports this movement and has always raised his voice against UFC’s low pay.

Kelvin Gastelum saves another event

Since Costa is out and is having his conflicts with the company, Kelvin is going to step up for the fight. Kelvin is coming off a loss against the top middleweight Robert Whittaker. He is 1-4 in his last 5 fights in the UFC. But just because of his record you cannot judge the caliber of Gastelum as he is easily one of the best middleweights on the planet and he always makes the fans happy by putting on a show for them.

Jared Cannonier was one of the top prospects in the division but his train was derailed by none other than Robert Whittaker who sits on the top of the division. This fight against Kelvin is an important fight for Jare as he would look to bounce back from the loss and would try to make another run for the UFC gold.