{"id":822148,"date":"2026-07-25T03:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T03:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822148\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T03:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T03:14:09","slug":"alex-pereira-warns-paulo-costa-he-can-swoop-in-for-ufc-lhw-title-shot-whenever-he-wants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822148\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Pereira Warns Paulo Costa He Can Swoop In For UFC LHW Title Shot Whenever He Wants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">If Paulo Costa wants a shot at the interim UFC light heavyweight title he better ask former division champion Alex Peieira first.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">As you know, UFC light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/latest-news\/437205\/carlos-ulberg-goes-under-the-knife-after-ufc-327-injury-knee-surgery-done\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">underwent knee surgery<\/a> back in April following his TKO win over Jiri Prochazka at UFC 327. Ulberg and Prochazka fought for the vacant 205-pound strap after Pereira decided to move up to heavyweight to fight Ciryl Gane at the UFC White House card, which Pereira lost via second-round knockout (watch <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmamania.com\/ufc-white-house-2026-fight-card-start-time-full-results-dana-white-conor-mcgregor-cbs-mma\/450811\/highlights-ciryl-gane-spoils-alex-pereiras-triple-champ-bid-with-crushing-technical-knockout-sets-up-tom-aspinall-rematch\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">With \u201cBlack Jag\u201d currently sidelined, UFC\u2019s light heavyweight division needs some movement in the second half of the year. That has left a door open for Costa, a former UFC middleweight title challenger, to step in and potentially fight for an interim title. Costa recently returned to the light heavyweight division at UFC 327 and delivered an upset knockout win over previously undefeated contender Azamat Murzakanov.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">It might make sense for UFC matchmakers to ride the hot hand and grant Costa a 205-pound title shot, but it sounds like they\u2019ll have to run it past Pereira. That\u2019s because the former UFC double champion sent a warning to Costa earlier this week that he can step back in at light heavyweight any time he wants and get an immediate title shot. \u201cPoatan\u201d is probably right, but it\u2019s not something Costa wants to hear from his fellow Brazilian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cI\u2019m just gonna say, if Ulberg is gonna be out for so long due to injury, who are they gonna put in for an interim title fight right now?\u201d asked Costa during a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani show.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cIt is not a provocation! But I see that you\u2019re outdated, and I understand why, because it\u2019s been a while since you signed your contract, and a lot of things have changed,\u201d said Pereira in response (via <a href=\"https:\/\/bloodyelbow.com\/2026\/07\/23\/alex-pereira-warns-paulo-costa-he-can-steal-light-heavyweight-title-shot-despite-recent-loss\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Bloody Elbow<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">\u201cIf I want to compete for the light heavyweight belt, I can do this! A lot of fighters are waiting or working to get to that opportunity, and I went and took the opportunity. But now I want something more, which is the third belt. I have to take risks, because, if I hadn\u2019t taken risks in all my struggles, I wouldn\u2019t have conquered all that I have conquered.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Paulo Costa wants a shot at the interim UFC light heavyweight title he better ask former division&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,40762,785,85,1396],"class_list":["post-822148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822148","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=822148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}