Paulo Costa has spoken about his frustration over where he was placed in the UFC’s latest rankings update.
Costa recently made his light heavyweight debut at UFC 327, having finally decided to move up from middleweight.
He was matched up against Azamat Murzakanov, who was unbeaten and likely just one win away from a title shot at 205 pounds.
‘The Eraser’ looked sharp throughout the fight and secured a third-round stoppage, putting himself right into the mix for a title run in the division.
Costa voices his dissatisfaction with UFC rankings
After his impressive win over the Russian contender, Costa was immediately moved into the top 10 of the light heavyweight rankings, coming in at number seven.
Even with this recognition, the Brazilian wasn’t pleased and felt he should have taken Murzakanov’s place at number six instead.
“I wasn’t happy when I saw the (rankings), it’s embarrassing, you cannot explain it,” Costa said to Submission Radio. “I’ve tried to look for a reason for that but, I could not find any reason to be seventh if my opponent was number six. It’s crazy because Alex (Pereira) is still there, and he’s going to fight at heavyweight, and Alex is number two, it doesn’t make any sense, it’s crazy.
“It’s weird too when you look at heavyweight, (Josh) Hokit just beat the number five, and he took number five… Who knows what’s going on?”
Pereira remains ranked second in the division even though he left his title behind to face Ciryl Gane for an interim heavyweight title bout.
Costa may only be seventh on paper right now, but Joe Rogan has already suggested he should be in line for an interim title shot. The veteran commentator also said that Costa looked better than ever during his performance at UFC 327 and sees him as a future champion in this weight class.
The path forward for the division is still unclear, given Carlos Ulberg’s recent surgery for a torn ACL. With a long recovery ahead of him, there are questions about how things will shape up while he recovers.
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