Former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira has blasted his countryman Paulo Costa for making fun of fellow Brazilian fighters.
Costa is known as UFC’s meme king on social media and often makes fun of other fighters despite their nationalities. Costa also makes fun of himself plenty.
But recently, his antics received criticism from former champion Teixeira. In a recent interview with Ag.Fight, he accused Costa of causing the stir to cover up his misfortunes in the octagon.
“The guy sees it and he’s like, ‘Damn man, this is the way. I’m really not winning a s**t, not even hitting the weight or doing any s**t. I’m like the worst professional, so what am I going to do here?’ That’s the way out, creating controversy. Calling the guy, putting the guy down when he is at the worst moment of his life. ‘Oo oh, Charles lost his belt’, Talking s**t, you know?! Because it will sell, because it will sell. He already knows that.”
The veteran Teixeira just lost his light heavyweight belt to Jiri Prochazka after delivering a ‘Fight of the Year’ contender fight.
While Costa, on the other hand, is winless in his last two against Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori. His last win was a unanimous decision against Yoel Romero back in 2019.
Despite the harsh criticism toward Costa, Teixeira doesn’t conclude whether his actions are right or wrong. He also justified Costa’s antics if it means to gain money and followers.
“I’m not saying he’s right or wrong. If we’re talking about money and followers, he’s right. It’s not my goal to have followers. My goal was always to be the best fighter in the world. When I retire from fighting, I’ll delete all my social media and start over,” he told ESPN Brazil.
Costa was initially set to face former champion, Luke Rockhold, at UFC 277 on July 30. However, the fight was postponed to UFC 278 in September for unknown reasons.