![UFC Fighter Paulo Costa](https://heavy.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Paulo-Costa.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=780)
Getty Paulo Costa is a UFC middleweight star.
A UFC star pulled out of an upcoming fight after making several bizarre posts on social media earlier in the week. UFC middleweight contender Paulo Costa was supposed to face Jared Cannonier on August 21 in the Brazillian’s first fight back since losing by second-round stoppage to UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Instead, “The Eraser” has reportedly erased his name from competition against Cannonier, at least according to ESPN.
ESPN’s Brett Okamoto posted, “Per sources, Paulo Costa has withdrawn from his main event against Jared Cannonieron Aug. 21. Kelvin Gastelum (@KelvinGastelum) has agreed to take his place.”
After that news broke late on Friday night, Costa posted, “UFC needs to pay me as main fighter to have fighting in main events. Youtubers are showing all disgrace on this business.”
He added, “Just to be clear. I never signed or locked up that contract. Why ufc announced this fight if didn’t signed? My question too”.
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Recent Social Media Posts Paint Strange Picture
But the strangest part of the story is Costa’s social media activity prior to the lash out.
The 30-year-old had sparsely posted on Twitter over the last couple of months until just a few days ago. Then, the floodgates opened, and Costa unleashed a bunch of zany social media posts onto the general public.
It started with some stuff about Mars and an apparent conspiracy theory about space travel not being real. He posted, “If mars hasn’t more than 1 sun they had a photo crew w lights and all equipment to create that shadow on opposite angle Some people saying it was made here on earth in some studio, but i don’t know”.
Later, Costa referenced “flat earth”, another popular conspiracy theory that suggests the earth isn’t a sphere but a flat surface instead.
A little later, Costa suggested he might need a new social media manager. He said, “I’m thinking to hire someone to [manage] and put some order on my social media’s….suggestion?”
Apparently, he didn’t heed his own advice.
That, or he did heed it and hired someone along the lines of his own suggestions. He posted, “Ok folks . I have already 3 names to manager this social media. 1. Tito Ortiz 2. Alex jones 3. Joshua Fabia”.
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More Zany Social Media Posts by UFC Star
Soon, references to Paulo’s claim that he lost to Adesanya last year because he was “kind of drunk” started to appear.
“I was kind of drunk [when] I fought, maybe, on hangover,” Costa said back in March via his YouTube channel per TalkSport. “I couldn’t sleep because of the [leg] cramps.”
Once posters started bringing all that mess up, Costa really let loose.
He continued with more.
Just a few hours before ESPN reported he had pulled out of his next fight, things really started to escalate.
He posted, “Wine > whiskey > sauce”. Then asked for help in making some custom wine logos.
Then came the retweets.
Costa hasn’t appeared inside the UFC’s Octagon since losing to Adesanya nine months ago.
That was his lone defeat in 13 overall MMA fights, and he was supposed to get back into action in August.
But now he’s apparently headed in a different direction.
In honor of all his most recent references to wine and such, let’s just say Costa’s career is headed back on the shelf, at least for a little longer than his fans probably hoped.
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UFC Star’s Social Media Meltdown: ‘Needs To Pay Me’