Sean Strickland is hoping to fight Paulo Costa next time out.
Strickland is coming off a decision win over Nassourdine Imavov but does not have his next fight booked. Yet, he is in a weird spot as the top of the division has been booked up. With that, he hopes to get booked to face Costa next time out.
Sean Strickland on Paulo Costa
“I want to fight Costa,” Strickland told MMA Junkie. “I know he’s in some contract negotiations. It was nice. The UFC pretty much said a no-consequence fight (against Imavov) – just go out there and have fun. I’ve got to be honest – I love when it’s like that. I would’ve stepped in to fight Ryan Spann this weekend if they would’ve offered me it. It’s so much better when you can go out there and fight and you’re going to make f*cking money and it doesn’t matter.”
Sean Strickland says he is 225lbs so he would need time to cut down and make weight. However, once he is ready to take the fight, he is confident he would beat Costa and stop him like Israel Adesanya did.
“Costa’s a funny motherf*cker,” Strickland said. “He’s kind of dumb, and that says a lot coming from this f*cking guy. But he’s a funny motherf*cker, but I’m going to put him on his knees and f*ck him like Izzy (Adesanya).”
Sean Strickland (26-5) snapped his two-fight losing skid last time out with a decision win over Imavov. Prior to that, he suffered a controversial split decision to Jared Cannonier and before that, was knocked out by Alex Pereira. Before the setbacks, Strickland was on a six-fight fight winning streak with notable wins over Jack Hermansson, Uriah Hall, and Brendan Allen among others.
Paulo Costa, meanwhile, is 14-2 and has not fought since last August when he beat Luke Rockhold by decision. He was supposed to face Robert Whittaker at UFC 284 but pulled out due to a contract dispute.
