Paulo Costa’s Last UFC Fight Is Stuck on Round Pay

Paulo Costa posted a dated letter on September 20 that gave the UFC three ways to finish his contract. Dana White answered two nights later as if the only issue were whether Costa wants to fight.

Costa says one fight left is still on the books, and that the purse is written for 3 rounds, not 5. White, speaking after Contender Series on September 22 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, said Costa has been offered fights and turned them down.

Three Options, Dated in Las Vegas

The Brazilian, ranked No. 6 at light heavyweight, addressed UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell in public. He said he would take any 205-pound opponent in a three-rounder, or anyone in a five-rounder in six weeks if the pay rose with the extra rounds, or he wanted out now.

COSTA’S THREE OPTIONS

• Option A: Book the last three-round fight against any light heavyweight on the roster.
• Option B: Book a five-round light heavyweight fight in six weeks and raise the purse to match.
• Option C: Release him from the contract now, which he called simple and clean.

He signed it September 18, 2026, from Las Vegas, then put the full text on his account two days later.

Ok, I’m making this public and clear:
I have 1 fight left. On my contract The purse is set for 3 rounds, not 5. I’m asking for the 3-round fight that was already agreed on contract . It can be anyone on the UFC LHW roaster.

I think Hunter has 3 options now:
A) Give me that last…

— Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) September 20, 2026

That letter is a pay argument dressed as a booking request. Costa is not asking the UFC to invent a fight out of thin air. He is asking it to run the last bout as a 15-minute fight at the money already agreed, or to pay more for 25 minutes.

White Answered a Booking Question

Reporters asked White for his thoughts on the letter after the Contender Series card. He started with “What the fuck does that even mean?” then went to work-rate, not round-count.

He’s been offered fights and turned them down. We don’t just say, ‘Fuck Paulo Costa,’ and, ‘You’re not going to get a fight,’ and ‘No we’re not going to pay you,’ and, ‘No, we’re not going to do this.’ Guys get offered three fights a year regularly, even guys who aren’t fighting. Tom Aspinall’s eyes are messed up. He’s getting offered fights. You think Paulo Costa isn’t getting offered fights?

Dana White, UFC CEO, after Contender Series in Las Vegas

He never said whether those offers were three-round fights at the contracted purse. He never said whether a five-round main event on short notice, at the same money, counts as the fight on the paper. He did say Tom Aspinall, the heavyweight whose eyes he described as messed up, is still getting offers, and he treated that as proof Costa is too.

White also noted that champion Carlos Ulberg is out. That was the closest he came to the division’s actual logjam, and he still did not touch the 3-versus-5 math Costa put in writing.

Why Costa Will Not Do 25 Minutes Cheap

The clearest turned-down fight on the public record sits in July. After Khalil Rountree Jr. pulled out opposite Magomed Ankalaev in Abu Dhabi, Costa said the UFC called with a five-round booking on less than 14 days’ notice, a 16-hour flight, the same money, and no interim belt.

He was 234 pounds. He told Ariel Helwani he needs seven to eight weeks to make light heavyweight the right way. He passed. That is a refused fight, and White can point to it. It is also a different product than the three-rounder Costa says is already priced into the deal.

Five rounds last 25 minutes. Three rounds last 15. The extra 10 minutes is more camp, more risk, and a longer night for the same check unless the purse moves. Costa put it in office hours on Helwani’s show: if the job is 9 to 5 for a set wage, you do not stretch it to 10 p.m. for the same $5,000. He has also said that if they want five rounds, they should put the belt on the line, and if they do not, they should pay the equivalent.

He used “60% more” for that extra work. The clock is 15 minutes against 25. Either way, the holdup he keeps naming is the same: a longer fight at three-round pay.

The UFC Already Said No to a Release

Costa has been trying to force a finish to the deal since winter, and the company has told him to stay and fight. He said he asked for a release in January 2026 and was told he needed to do one more bout at least. He then stopped Azamat Murzakanov on April 11 at UFC 327 in Miami and still had one fight left.

THE 2026 BOOKING STALL

1. January 2026: Asks to be let out and is told to complete at least one more fight.
2. April 11, 2026: Wins by head-kick TKO over Murzakanov at 1:23 of round 3, then says the next one is the last.
3. June 29, 2026: Writes that Hunter Campbell’s answer is wait, and that he has opened the door at light heavyweight, middleweight, and heavyweight.
4. July 2026: Turns down the short-notice five-rounder with Ankalaev in Abu Dhabi at the same pay.
5. Early September 2026: Asks for a release again through his manager, Tamara Alves, and is refused.
6. September 18, 2026: Dates the three-option letter in Las Vegas, then posts it on September 20.
7. September 22, 2026: White says Costa has been offered fights and turned them down.

On Helwani’s show days before that letter, Costa said the company told him, “No, we’re not going to release you.” He also said he does not expect a last fight to be booked unless he signs a new long-term deal, which would mean re-upping just to chase an interim belt while Ulberg heals. That is the part White’s clip does not cover. A refused five-rounder at three-round money leaves the final bout unfought, and an unfought final bout keeps him from leaving.

Ankalaev Offered a Get-Out Card

Former champion Magomed Ankalaev, No. 1 in the official rankings, replied to the letter by offering himself as the opponent. He framed it as a free-agency launch if Costa won and a no-lose night if Costa lost.

You beat me, you become a free agent and make millions. I beat you, everybody expected me to beat you anyway. You have nothing to lose. I’m your get-out-of-jail-free card. Let’s fight.

Magomed Ankalaev, UFC light heavyweight, on X

Ankalaev finished Bogdan Guskov on July 25 in Abu Dhabi and has been sitting in the same stalled 205-pound queue. Costa has said he will take anyone at the weight in a three-rounder. Ankalaev is someone. The missing piece is still whether that fight is 15 minutes at the old purse, 25 minutes with a raise, or 25 minutes with a belt.

Costa asked for an interim title while Ulberg is out and did not get it. He called the light heavyweight picture a disaster and guessed the champion needs at least 12 months before he is clear to train, which is why he wanted the belt in play now. White’s “three fights a year” line does not settle any of that.

Twelve UFC Nights Since 2017

Costa holds a 16-4 professional record and an 8-4 UFC mark, with 12 knockout wins, one submission, and nine first-round finishes. His official page lists 59% striking accuracy and a 12:39 average fight time. He is 35. He has won three of his last five and carries a two-fight streak into this stall, the Kopylov decision on July 19, 2025, then Murzakanov.

The activity knock is real, and White’s camp will use it. Costa has not been a three-fight-a-year fighter for most of this deal.

COSTA’S UFC FIGHTS BY YEAR

Those 12 dates add up. He fought more than once in a calendar year in 2017 and 2024 only. He debuted March 12, 2017, more than nine years ago, and the Adesanya title shot on September 27, 2020, is still his last championship night. The current two-fight streak is his first winning run of any size since that Romero win in 2019.

Low volume cuts both ways. It is why White can say Costa turns fights down. It is also why Costa treats the last remaining date as a contract event, not a favor, and why he will not donate 10 extra minutes to close it.

Ulberg Ruled Out the Rest of 2026

Carlos Ulberg won the vacant title on the same Miami card, stopping Jiri Prochazka at 3:45 of round 1, and tore his ACL in the fight. He has said he is aiming at early 2027 and will not rush the knee. That leaves a champion on the shelf and a ranked group with no belt to chase unless the UFC installs an interim.

THE 205-POUND QUEUE

• Champion: Carlos Ulberg, out after the April 11 ACL tear, targeting early 2027.
• No. 1: Magomed Ankalaev, idle since the July 25 finish of Guskov, offering Costa a fight.
• No. 2: Jiri Prochazka, the man Ulberg knocked out that night in Miami.
• No. 6: Paulo Costa, on a two-fight streak, one contracted bout from free agency.

Alex Pereira is still listed at No. 3 at 205 even after the move to heavyweight. Khalil Rountree Jr. sits at No. 4 and Navajo Stirling at No. 5, with Jamahal Hill at No. 7 and Murzakanov at No. 8. Ulberg himself floated Ankalaev versus Prochazka and Costa versus Rountree as the fights to run while he rehabs. Costa’s reply at the time was that there would be another champion in 2026, and that he was coming to get it.

None of that booking happened. The letter from September 18 is still the live offer from Costa’s side: a three-rounder against anyone, a paid five-rounder in six weeks, or a release. White’s September 22 clip did not accept any of the three, and it did not name the next opponent either.