Whittaker-Costa falls through for UFC 284
The UFC's return to Australia has lost one of its top attractions.
Former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa won't square off at UFC 284 on Feb. 11 in Perth, Whittaker announced Monday.
"It's very upsetting to say they're true," Whittaker said. "The fight with Costa has fallen apart. UFC tried everything in their power to get him to the fight. They gave him the new contract, from what I understand, to take the fight and he still didn't take the fight."
The UFC announced Whittaker-Costa in October, but Costa referred to the booking as "fake news" on social media and repeatedly said he wouldn't fight Whittaker at the event.
Efforts to finalize the bout ultimately fell through despite the official announcement, sources told ESPN's Brett Okamoto. Whittaker, who's from Australia, is reportedly expected to be moved to a different date. He said the promotion plans to schedule him to fight in March or April instead.
Great fights is going down due to lack of negotiation skills, they should stop being petty 👍🥤 pic.twitter.com/uAfFLnTOdN
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) December 19, 2022
I wasn't bluffing 🙌
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) December 19, 2022
Costa has said he has one fight left on his current UFC contract. The UFC and the Brazilian knockout artist have reportedly discussed a new deal, but it's unclear if and when those discussions will continue.
Whittaker and Costa were both looking to secure their second straight win. Whittaker is coming off a unanimous decision victory over Marvin Vettori at UFC Paris in September, while Costa defeated former champ Luke Rockhold at UFC 278 in August.
UFC 284 will feature a superfight between defending lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski, as well as an interim featherweight title bout between top contenders Yair Rodriguez and Josh Emmett.