Hours before Paulo Costa takes the cage tonight to face Marvin Vettori, here is the Brazilian discussing how he was able to negotiate a big pay bump to his UFC salary three years ago. The following article is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of the MMA News archives.
[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 1, 2018, 2:23 PM]
When Paulo Costa started his UFC debut with back-to-back TKO victories over Garreth McLellan and Oluwale Bamgbose, the UFC were eager to renew his contract. However, Paulo Costa, aware of his value, decided to be more ambitious about his future in the promotion and take a gamble on himself (Via MMA Fighting):
“The UFC called me to renew my contract in my second fight, after I won by knockout at UFC Rio. They called me, which is something unusual,” Costa said during a UFC media day on Tuesday. “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, (the number) 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.”
Paulo Costa ended up getting more than what he had originally asked for, “more than $100,000,” Costa says, and Costa is still not complacent, but has his eyes squarely on his future:
“We have to go step by step,” Costa said. “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,” Costa continued. There’s no humility in the fighting game,” he continued. “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.”
Do you believe other fighters should follow in Paulo Costa’s footsteps and gamble on themselves instead of taking guaranteed money?
