Paulo Costa, a middleweight in the UFC, has not yet formally signed his new deal with the organization, but he seemed pleased with it. ‘Borrachinha’ and the promotion debated for months before coming to an agreement, which was disclosed this week, albeit no financial details had been discussed prior.
Tamara Alves, Costa’s new manager, was keen to discuss her goals for her client in an interview with Ag Fight. The management informed the journalists that once the contract is completed, Paulo will earn more than any other Brazilian fighter in the UFC, however she would not provide a specific amount.
“Paulo is has gone from one of the UFC’s most undervalued athletes to one of its most valued ones. I’m sure, with no doubt, that Paulo is the most well-paid Brazilian within the promotion. Do you know any fighters who make more than a million dollars per fight? Because I don’t. Especially for non-title fights. The UFC knows that Paulo’s product sells. Paulo’s PPV against Adesanya was the most sold one in the middleweight division. The UFC has these numbers. The UFC knows the numbers Paulo can reach.”
“First of all, an athlete must sell. They have to show the company results. Then you have to learn how much of that can turn into a financial figure that can be returned to the athlete. I think that was her biggest insight, alongside the team she put together. We had all these productive meetings where we able to quantify these numbers into real metrics. When we put that on the table during our negotiations, the UFC didn’t have much of an argument,”
“It was reported that I had received a 500 thousand dollar proposal and people thought it was that much for six fights,” Paulo said.
“But the UFC had offered me the 500 to show and 150 more if I won. We turned that down. Once we had the data, we knew our potential was much more than that, even if I went to fight outside of the UFC. The UFC uses its whole media machine in their negotiations, to make their product more valuable. However, they don’t use it in your favor. You have to do that yourself. We turned down the first proposal and sent a counterproposal. From there we got to the figure we really wished for.”
