Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa at the UFC 302 official weigh-in. Photo by Dylan Napoleone/Cageside Press
The co-main event at UFC 302 on Saturday in Newark was scheduled to be a fight between former middleweight champion Sean Strickland and former title challenger Paulo Costa over five rounds.
In the end, it took all five rounds, which was clearly an advantage for one corner over the other.
The bout could have determined a title challenger based on the outcome of the Robert Whittaker vs. Khamzat Chimaev fight scheduled for later this summer, but nothing has been decided yet.
Early in the bout, Costa attacked the legs with a series of sharp calf kicks, while Strickland used his usual upright stance to take his opponent down. Strickland seemed to sense the kicks early on, shifting positions a few times and beginning to counter them later in the round. He also continued to move forward with front kicks, trying to force Costa to the outside and onto his back foot. In the final minute of the first round, Costa went down after a right kick from Strickland, but it was more from a slip.
In the second round, Strickland continued to land front kicks and keep up the pressure, but Costa landed a few leg kicks while Strickland held off the others. Costa moved forward for a moment, but again spent most of the time retreating. When Strickland wasn’t landing front kicks, he used his jab and right hand, and Costa either couldn’t change his game plan or was waiting for something to happen. Strickland easily fended off a takedown attempt late in the round, and the Philly shell worked well for him. In the final minute, he hit a tiring Costa with a hard left that staggered the Brazilian, but the fight went into the third round.
The third round started with Strickland in the lead, but he’s willing to wait in the fourth and fifth rounds if necessary. Costa landed a left to the body, but Strickland didn’t flinch, working Costa back, blocking more kicks and landing jabs. Two minutes in, Costa bounced back after blocking a kick. The game plan of lots of kicks to the legs clearly backfired after Costa limped off, as he looked to be going for a spin kick but couldn’t land any. Strickland landed a hit at the end of the round, and Costa’s corner suggested he’d lost the round, but the score was 2-1.
A 3-0 Strickland win was quite possible, and early in the fourth round, Shawn Strickland showed no signs of flinching. He kept coming forward, landing front kicks that sapped Costa’s energy, and the Brazilian was soon able to get more and more aggressive, but around the third minute he countered with a right hand that landed but didn’t quite land. Later in the round, Costa was back on his feet, landing another leg kick that caught Strickland’s attention, and then Costa went to the body and the two traded blows at the horn in a close round.
“Let your motherfuckers go and piss on the floor,” Extreme Couture head coach Eric Nicksick told Strickland between rounds, suggesting the fight was closer than he expected. As a result, Shawn Strickland came on the offensive early and continued to do so throughout the fight. He was much fresher and in better shape, but at the same time, Costa wasn’t losing, instead fighting back with body shots as he backed away.
A kick to the body from Costa landed, then another from Strickland. The former champion’s jab was on target, Costa landed one of his own. He changed levels in the final minute, but Strickland easily dodged it. Strickland then landed a combination and a late head kick that took Costa down. Costa may have just fallen from the force of the kick while blocking it. Costa got to his feet, and Strickland went on the offensive, pursuing the Brazilian as the horn sounded.
After five rounds, the verdict was somewhat of a nail-biter on a night of controversial scoring results, and in the end, the verdict was again close, with one judge who saw Costa’s bout thinking that Sean Strickland had won by split decision.
Official result: Sean Strickland defeats Paulo Costa via split decision (46-49, 50-45, 49-46)
