Two top-5 middleweights will meet on August 21 when Paulo “Borrachinha” Costa returns to face Jared Cannonier to headline the Fight Night Event.
Originally reported by ESPN on Wednesday night, Paulo Costa will make his first trip to the Octagon in nearly a year when he faces Jared Cannonier to headline the August 21 Fight Night event. Costa will be looking to put his nickname to good use by erasing the traces of his previous fight as best he can by pressing forward as always against Jared Cannonier. Cannonier is not one to take a step back, either, so it appears we have a classic “something’s gotta give” scenario between two muscular middleweights looking to step beyond their most recent fight experience.
#2-ranked Paulo Costa was scheduled to fight Robert Whittaker last month but was forced to pull out of the bout due to contracting the coronavirus. He will now look to bounce back from his lopsided, wine-induced loss to Israel Adesanya in the UFC 253 main event. That defeat was the first and only time Costa has stood by as his opponent’s hand was raised in victory, and the confident Brazilian won’t expect to relive that disappointment any time soon.
Jared Cannonier has been in hot pursuit of a world title shot for quite some time, and the #4-ranked middleweight would get right back on track towards that goal with a win here, which would arguably be the biggest of his career. Despite losing to Robert Whittaker in his most recent outing, Cannonier still has a 75% divisional winning percentage at 3-1, with victories over David Branch, Jack Hermansson, and Anderson Silva. Each of those wins came via TKO. Cannonier will now look to become only the second man to finish, let alone defeat “Borrachinha” in this sizzling main event.
With a main event now in place, the updated lineup for this August 21 Fight Night is as follows:
Paulo Costa vs. Jared Cannonier
Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Royval
Austin Lingo vs. Luis Saldana
William Knight vs. Fabio Cherant
Austin Hubbard vs. Vinc Pinchel
Parker Porter vs. Chase Sherman
Who do you think gets the win in this middleweight main event? Paulo Costa or Jared Cannonier?
