Paulo Costa: 'Very talented guy' Kamaru Usman should fight somebody like me

Paulo Costa is eyeing a former welterweight champion next.

Costa (14-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) dropped an entertaining back-and-forth battle to Robert Whittaker at UFC 298. Prior to fighting Whittaker, Costa was booked to face Khamzat Chimaev this past October at UFC 294, but an elbow infection forced him out of the bout.

Kamaru Usman (20-4 MMA, 15-3 UFC) ended up stepping in on short notice to face Chimaev at middleweight, falling short in a majority decision loss. Costa would like to see Usman stick to 185 pounds, and thinks a fight between them makes sense.

“He comes from a loss, as well,” Costa told Submission Radio. “I come from la oss. So yes, me and him need to put a win in the records. I think he did already everything that he showed to do in welterweight, so I think it’s time. He’s not so young – he’s like 37, 36. I think it’s time for him to move to middleweight. He did once against Chimaev, you know, Gourmet Chechen.

“But there was nothing there in the whole process. He just got a short notice (fight) and came up to middleweight weighing welterweight. So I think this fight makes sense, and he’s kind of a powerful guy. Yeah, he has different skills on the ground, wrestling skills, takedowns and striking. I think it’s a fight to make and to put one of us in the line again at the top.”

Costa rates Usman’s skills highly, and guarantees a banger if they get booked to fight.

“Kamaru, you’re a very talented guy,” Costa said. “I think you have a potential to perform better at middleweight right now than in the welterweight. I think you did a lot in the welterweight. I think you should come up to middleweight and fight somebody like me.”