Paulo Costa details bet on himself in UFC contract negotiation
Paulo Costa: “I said ‘OK, but after that I will ask for more.’ They did this bet with me.”
UFC middleweight Paulo Costa has star potential. At just four fights into his UFC career, Costa is 12-0 and in the UFC’s top 10. In his first fight, Costa stopped Garreth McLellan in 77 seconds, winning a performance bonus. In his second he stopped Oluwale Bamgbose in Round 2. The UFC did not wait until the third fight of his four-fight contract before offering a new one, which would be typical.
The UFC called me to renew my contract in my second fight, after I won by knockout at UFC Rio,” said Costa during a media day earlier this week, as transcribed by Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting. “They called me, which is something unusual. I had a four-fight contract, and I thought ‘well, they see a different value in me.’
I asked for a high number, they said ‘this is way above what we usually pay, so let’s make a deal.’ They proposed the Hendricks fight and then we would negotiate. I said ‘OK, but after that I will ask for more.’ They did this bet with me. If I had lost the fight, it would possibly be lower than they had offered.
I won and asked what I wanted before, and we did some negotiations and renewed the contract.
Costa’s first fight on the new contract, a Round 2 TKO of Uriah Hall, earned him $55,000 to show, $55,000 to win, and a $50,000 performance bonus.
We have to go step by step, said Costa. It’s hard to imagine four steps ahead. I thought it would be fast, but with the moment the division is going through and me showing my superiority in the fights, it was faster than an average prediction. But I didn’t do a prediction before of how much I wanted to make.
Fighters can’t be inhibited, too humble. There’s no humility in the fighting game. If you are confident, you have to say it, otherwise, you’re being fake if you believe in something and say you don’t. I think it’s important to show who you are. People want to see that. Nobody wants to see a loser, everybody wants to see someone who believes in himself and proves he’s right.
I don’t try to please people. If you’re pleasing some people, you will displease others. You can’t try to please people. I realized that the path to follow is to be yourself. If you’re confident, be confident. If you’re not, if you’re shy, be you. Don’t try to force something you’re not because people can see that and it gets too fake and artificial. Be who you are. Some will like, others won’t.
