Paulo Costa reveals he has signed a new UFC deal worth an eye watering £3.2MILLION

Paulo Costa is set to return to the Octagon after resolving a well-publicised pay dispute with the promotion that had kept him out of competition since August.

According to Costa’s manager Tamara Alves, Costa and the UFC reached a deal that will reportedly make the 31-year-old the highest paid Brazilian in the UFC today.

In an interview with Brazilian combat sports publication AgFight, Alves explained: ‘Paulo went from being one of the most devalued athletes to one of the most valued athletes in the UFC. 

‘I have no doubt that Paulo is the highest-paid Brazilian athlete in the organization today. I don’t know if you know any Brazilian athlete that is paid more than a million dollars per fight. I don’t — especially in non-title fights.’

The four-fight deal is reportedly worth upwards of one million dollars per fight, and will attach to the one bout left the Brazilian had on his previous contract.

Paulo Costa’s manager has claimed his fighter has signed a deal with the UFC worth upwards of one million dollars a fight

In his win over Luke Rockhold at UFC 278, figures released by the Pete Suazo Utah Athletic Commission stated he earned $130,000(£106k) including a $65,000 win bonus with an additional $50,000 Fight of the Night bonus for his victory in the co-main event.

However, Dana White has consistently claimed over the years that the disclosed payouts released by athletic commissions are not fully representative of a fighters income as they fail to account for ‘locker room bonuses’.

The one-time UFC middleweight title challenger explained that the promotion had made him a lower offer during his hiatus to take on perennial contender Robert Whittaker, but he elected to turn it down.

‘It was even reported that I received a proposal of 500 thousand dollars, and people thought it was 500 thousand dollars for six fights. But UFC offered 500 to fight another 150 (thousand dollars) in case of victory per fight. 

Costa made a reported $180,000 for his Fight of the Night clash with Luke Rockhold in August

The Brazilian has been in the UFC since 2017, and challenged for the middleweight title in 2020

‘This value we refused. Faced with the data, we knew that the potential was enormously greater than that, even if I were to fight outside the UFC. 

‘Because we know that the UFC uses all the media they have at the time of negotiation to value what they deliver, but they don’t do that in your favor, you have to do it on your own. This first proposal was rejected, we sent a counter-proposal and from then on we arrived at the number that we really wanted.’

Costa has been a mainstay of the promotion’s 185 lbs division since debuting off a stint on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil season three in 2017.

The Brazilian then embarked on a five-fight unbeaten streak inside the Octagon defeating the likes of Johny Hendricks, Uriah Hall and Yoel Romeo earning himself a shot at the UFC Middleweight Championship being defeated by Israel Adesanya at UFC 253.`