{"id":38110,"date":"2026-05-06T17:30:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T17:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Exclusive-Borrachinha-lays-out-options-across-three-divisions-for-next-bout-201091"},"modified":"2026-05-06T17:30:46","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T17:30:46","slug":"exclusive-borrachinha-lays-out-options-across-three-divisions-for-next-bout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/exclusive-borrachinha-lays-out-options-across-three-divisions-for-next-bout\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive: \u2018Borrachinha\u2019 lays out options across three divisions for next bout"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n

Despite not winning a performance bonus for his victory over
\nAzamat
\nMurzakanov<\/a> at UFC 327<\/a>,
\nPaulo
\n\u201cBorrachinha\u201d Costa<\/a> has nothing to complain about regarding the
\nfruits of his labor.<\/p>\n

With a long history at middleweight and now ranked No. 7 by the
\n
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> in the light heavyweight
\ndivision, Costa feels he has a real chance of competing for the
\n205-pound interim belt soon with champ Carlos
\nUlberg<\/a> recovering from a serious knee injury. He has also been
\ncalled out by former champion Jiri
\nProchazka<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

And the Brazilian’s range of possibilities doesn’t end there. After
\nchallenging Josh Hokit<\/a>
\nfor \u201cstealing his bonus\u201d at UFC 327 and receiving a positive
\nresponse from the American, a match at heavyweight has also become
\nan option for Costa.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have one more fight on my UFC contract and thank God there are
\nplenty of options,\u201d Costa said. \u201cI can fight in all three
\ndivisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked who he would select between Hokit, Prochazka and
\nmiddleweight king Khamzat
\nChimaev<\/a>, if the UFC gave him the opportunity, Costa didn’t
\nhesitate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a personal rivalry with Chimaev. If he beats Sean
\nStrickland<\/a> on Saturday, it will be the biggest fight I can do
\nright now. So, among Hokit, Jiri and Chimaev, my choice would be
\nChimaev.\u201d<\/p>\n

Costa revealed that he will be cageside at
\nUFC 328<\/a>, where Chimaev will headline against Strickland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m going to Newark on Wednesday at the UFC’s invitation; they
\ncalled me to be there in the front row to promote this possible
\nsuper fight. I don’t have any injuries and I’m available to the UFC
\nto return as soon as possible,\u201d Costa declared.<\/p>\n

After being defeated by Strickland via split decision, Costa
\nbelieves that if the American survives Round 1 with Chimaev, he can
\nwin a decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see that Chimaev starts very strong, trying to finish the fight
\nquickly. However, the longer the fight goes on, the worse it is for
\nChimaev. Strickland is the opposite; he takes the fight to the end
\nat the same pace. I see Chimaev as the favorite in the first and
\nsecond rounds, but from then on, Strickland’s chances of winning
\nincrease clearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short notice against Hokit?<\/h2>\n

Costa also talked about the greeting he received from U.S.
\nPresident Donald J. Trump the day after his victory at UFC 327 and
\nguaranteed that he would accept a call to replace Derrick
\nLewis<\/a> if he gets injured.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge of facing Hokit in a higher weight class at a
\nhistoric UFC event would certainly motivate me. Yes, I would
\naccept.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite not winning a performance bonus for his victory over Azamat Murzakanov at UFC 327, Paulo \u201cBorrachinha\u201d Costa has nothing to complain about regarding the fruits of his labor. With a long history at middleweight and now ranked No. 7 by the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the light heavyweight division, Costa feels he has a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38110","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38110","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38110"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38110\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}