“I Believe I Can Take Two Belts”-Paulo Costa Puts Jon Jones On Notice

Paulo Costa has his priorities set. He wants to become a two-division champ and he isn’t interested in sitting around, stuck in one division.

Paulo Costa currently fights in the middleweight division of the UFC. He currently holds a record of 13-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC, and plans on extending that. He wants to first conquer the middleweight division and then almost instantly move up a weight class and do the same at light heavyweight.

Paulo Costa is set to face the current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya sometime this summer. Of course, we don’t have an official date as yet due to the global lockdown in place. But either way, Costa’s plan involves defeating Adesanya and laying his hands on the middleweight belt as soon as possible. And he will then, almost immediately move to the next step of this plan.

He will bump up a weight class and challenge the then light heavyweight champion for his belt. Costa told MMA Junkie, “I believe I can take two belts, middleweight, and light heavyweight. I believe that. I’m very big, and it’s a little difficult to make 185, so I think I can take two belts to my country after my next fight.”

Costa added, “My plan is to move to light heavyweight very soon, quickly after my next fight if it’s possible. It depends who, if light heavyweight will have a great name like Jon Jones or not, it depends, but I’m not scared to fight against big guys.”

Paulo Costa Takes a dig at Israel Adesanya

Adesanya has been a part of a heated exchange with Jon Jones off late. The fighters have had a lot of back and forth on social media and even threw shots at each other. Adesanya even called Jones out but eventually said he wants to wipe out his division before he moves up.

So throwing some shade at Adesanya’s plans Paulo Costa said, “Like the skinny guy Adesanya, he calls Jon Jones out, but when Jon Jones accepts, he says, ‘No I need two years to train,’ … so it’s not good,” Costa said. “Nobody can call something and when his challenge (is) accepted, he says, ‘No, not now.’ This is shameful (expletive). I won’t be that. I’m ready, if I want to fight in light heavyweight right now, I can do that. So I believe after this fight, I will move to the next step, on the next shot.”

So there you have it, Paulo Costa has his eyes set on two titles. How long do you think it will take him to achieve this?