Paulo Costa shared some choice words for fellow middleweight Reinier de Ridder following today’s UFC on ABC 9 event in Abu Dhabi.
De Ridder (21-2 MMA) squared off with former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (26-9 MMA) in the headliner of this afternoon’s fight card in Abu Dhabi.
The former two division ONE FC Champion, ‘RDR’, had entered the contest sporting a four-fight winning streak, with his three most recent victories coming by way of stoppages inside of Octagon.
Standing in De Ridder’s path to title contention was ‘The Reaper’, who was looking to bounce back after suffering a submission loss to Khamzat Chimaev in his most previous effort this past October.
It was a high stakes bout for both men, and one that fellow UFC middleweight contender Paulo Costa had his eyes on.
Today’s ‘Whittaker vs. De Ridder’ bout proved to be a thrilling back and forth affair. Bobby Knuckles nearly finished the contest in round three, this after scoring a big knockdown followed by some ground and pound. But, Reinier de Ridder showed his resilience and battled back to take dominant position to close out that same round. After two more closely contested frames in rounds four and five, the bout went to the judges’ scorecards for a decision, with Reinier de Ridder ultimately emerging victorious by way of split decision.
While Paulo Costa did share some thoughts during the course of the fight, it was after the contest’s conclusion that he really took some digs at Reinier De Ridder.
The hard-hitting former UFC title challenger took to ‘X’ with the following posts about De Ridder’s performance and character:
I thought DRICUS was most weird fight style in UFC but de RIDDER is doing everything to compete with him head to head .
— Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) July 26, 2025
“I thought DRICUS was most weird fight style in UFC, but de RIDDER is doing everything to compete with him head-to-head.”
With all due respect, I would knock out de Ridder 3 x wich round. All that said congrats for your win today , despite bad fight.
— Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) July 26, 2025
“With all due respect, I would knock out de Ridder 3 x which round. All that said congrats for your win today, despite bad fight.”
— Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) July 26, 2025
I think de Ridder is gays , and that’s ok bro.
— Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) July 26, 2025
“I think de Ridder is gays, and that’s ok bro.”
Paulo Costa (15-4 MMA) most recently competed at last weekend’s UFC 319 event, where he scored a unanimous decision victory over Roman Kopylov.
Is a scrap between Costa and De Ridder the fight to make next?