{"id":627301,"date":"2026-04-24T06:21:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627301\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T06:21:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:21:14","slug":"joe-rogan-crowns-paulo-costa-as-future-ufc-light-heavyweight-champ-after-carlos-ulbergs-acl-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627301\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Rogan crowns Paulo Costa as future UFC light heavyweight champ after Carlos Ulberg&#8217;s ACL injury"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Longtime UFC analyst Joe Rogan believes former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa could take the light heavyweight throne.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, UFC 327 featured plenty of highlight-reel finishes and wild fights. One of which was former UFC middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa\u2019s shocking knockout of the previously unbeaten Azamat Murzakanov in the co-main event, after Costa made the full-time move to the light heavyweight division.<\/p>\n<p>In the UFC 327 headliner, Carlos Ulberg capped off his remarkable run in the light heavyweight division with a come-from-behind KO to win the then-vacant light heavyweight championship. But Ulberg suffered a serious leg injury just seconds into the fight with Jiri Prochazka, and recently underwent surgery <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/ufc-champion-carlos-ulberg-undergoes-surgery-for-torn-acl-additional-injuries-confirmed\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">to repair a torn ACL<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Amidst Ulberg\u2019s uncertain return timeline and Alex Pereira\u2019s recent departure, the light heavyweight division is in a peculiar place after UFC 327. UFC CEO Dana White has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/dana-white-wont-make-decision-on-ufc-light-heavyweight-title-yet-amid-carlos-ulbergs-injury\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">no plans of booking an interim title bout<\/a> amidst Ulberg\u2019s absence, but that could change in the coming months.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Rogan, who has witnessed the ups and downs of the light heavyweight division first-hand, believes Costa is on the verge of claiming the throne at 205 lbs.<\/p>\n<p>Joe Rogan touts Paulo Costa as future UFC light heavyweight champ after UFC 327 KO<\/p>\n<p>In a recent episode of <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/cIUpO1sNY3A?si=RYqwDkt9c-28NZQW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">The Joe Rogan Experience<\/a>, Rogan blanketed the former middleweight title challenger with glowing praise.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe looked f****** phenomenal. If I were in his corner, I would say \u2018Dude, never go back to middleweight. You are a f***** light heavyweight champion!\u2019,\u201d Rogan said of Costa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile Carlos Ulberg is going to be out for at least a year, for ACL reconstruction, Paulo Costa could be the interim light heavyweight champion. No doubt! I really feel like he could pull that off. At light heavyweight, he\u2019s f****** terrifying. He looks like the Paulo Costa of old!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After Rogan\u2019s remarks went viral, it didn\u2019t take long for Costa to respond on social media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJoe Rogan always speaking facts,\u201d Costa posted on <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BorrachinhaMMA\/status\/2047436500028035420?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">X<\/a> in response to Rogan\u2019s praise.<\/p>\n<p>Who should Paulo Costa fight next? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Longtime UFC analyst Joe Rogan believes former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa could take the light heavyweight throne.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,29449,786,2765,785,6401,85,787],"class_list":{"0":"post-627301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-carlos-ulberg","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-joe-rogan","13":"tag-mma","14":"tag-paulo-costa","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-ufc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}