Melquizael Costa feels he\u2019s entering a different stage of his career Saturday, coming off of a bonus-winning victory in another main card appearance at UFC Vegas 112.<\/p>\n
The Brazilian featherweight has won his past four fights, with the last three coming in a span of under 60 days, and he battles Morgan Charriere full of confidence that this is his shot at showing off his talent to fans who have yet to see him in action.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love doing this,\u201d Costa told MMA Fighting. \u201cFor me, going in there to throw down is a walk in the park. And getting paid for it? It\u2019s like paid sparring [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n
Costa had a \u201cchaotic\u201d year in 2024. His back was against the wall following a 1-2 start in the UFC, but it all changed with a third-round submission of Shayilan Nuerdanbieke. Costa predicted he would fight four times in 2025, and can now go 4-0 if victorious at the UFC APEX.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ready to beat the champion,\u201d Costa said. \u201cI don\u2019t see anyone \u2014 anyone \u2014 in the division beating me. If you give me a date, \u2018You\u2019ll fight the champion and have two months to prepare,\u2019 I\u2019m ready. \u2018You get one month,\u2019 I\u2019m ready, too. Thank God, I got to the UFC ready. I had some personal issues, physical issues, several factors that made me not perform well, but I\u2019m ready to fight anyone in the division. And I say it, I beat everybody. Whoever they throw at me, I\u2019ll beat them up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old isn\u2019t interested in just facing big-name opponents to prove his point, he wants the toughest adversaries possible at their best.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, I wouldn\u2019t like to fight Calvin Kattar or Giga Chikadze because they\u2019re in the rankings but are declining,\u201d Costa said. \u201cNot disrespecting them, they\u2019re good guys, but\u2026 I like fighting new guys, guys with hype. \u2018We\u2019ll give you Jean Silva.\u2019 Done, let\u2019s throw down. \u2018We\u2019ll give you Lerone Murphy.\u2019 Man, I\u2019ll tell you, I even feel like fighting Aaron Pico. He\u2019s not ranked but he came in with hype. Throw him at me. I like fighting problems. \u2026 We\u2019re prepared, but we\u2019re under the radar. The difference is I\u2019m not the hyped guy, I\u2019m the guy who beats the hyped guys. I\u2019m the guy who, when the fight ends, people say, \u2018Damn, who is this dude?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Costa anticipates \u201ca good brawl\u201d with Charriere, a French featherweight who has captured bonuses in four of his five octagon appearances. The former Cage Warriors champion is 3-2 so far in the UFC, and Costa said he\u2019s \u201cthe first guy I\u2019m fighting that I really don\u2019t like\u201d because Costa claims he initially denied the fight was in the works.<\/p>\n
After a busy 2025, Costa wants to stay active in 2026, and he\u2019s open to a quick jump to lightweight if need be. Costa has some names in mind for featherweight, too, and is shooting his shot even if it may not make sense ranking-wise.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the UFC tells me they\u2019ll throw me against a top 10 guy mid-year, fine \u2014 then give me a lightweight fight now in the meantime,\u201d Costa said. \u201cI want to test myself and have a war at lightweight. Not move up permanently, but after fighting Morgan, which will probably be very bloody [laughs], I want another war to test myself. Either give me a top 10 or give me a lightweight fight. I want to stay active, you know? I don\u2019t want to permanently move to 155 but I want to do some fights to see what it\u2019s like there. I want to get to know lightweight territory. Guys like Matt Frevola, or that other guy who loves a war too, Jesus Aguilar. I want a guy who loves a brawl, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the phone rings, man, I\u2019m going,\u201d he continued. \u201cJean Silva and Arnold Allen are fighting, and if they want me on standby, I\u2019m in. [Alexander] Volkanovski and Diego Lopes. People say, \u2018Melk, you\u2019re aiming too high.\u2019 Bro, I used to sell popsicles back in Porto de Moz, three days by boat to Belem, saying I was going to be a UFC fighter and nobody believed me. You think now that I\u2019m in the UFC I\u2019m not going to say it? I\u2019d beat anybody, man. Whoever they throw at me, I throw down [laughs].\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melquizael Costa feels he\u2019s entering a different stage of his career Saturday, coming off of a bonus-winning victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82,640,702],"class_list":{"0":"post-341875","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-ufc","15":"tag-ufc-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341875","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341875"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341875\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341875"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341875"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341875"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}