Paulo Costa Declined Reinier De Ridder Fight Offer “Just Shut Up And Say Yes”

Paulo Costa was briefly on the radar of Reinier de Ridder for a fight in the coming weeks until reported negotiation tactics from the former scrapped that potential fight from being made.

This was discussed during a recent interview that RDR did on MMA Junkie Radio ahead of his new bout booking for UFC Vancouver. The former two-division ONE Championship titleholder was initially supposed to fight Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez during this promotional foray into Canada. Alas, Hernandez had to withdraw with an injury ,and now Brendan Allen will be on October 18th for UFC Fight Night 262.

As mentioned, though it wasn’t always Allen being targeted, and when touching upon the discussions for a fight with the former UFC middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa, de Ridder said,

“We tried Costa. Costa wanted it on his own terms. I wanted it to be a catchweight and only three rounds, and that would have been fine for me to be honest… But I think if you get a shot like that to fight for a main event, get another chance to come up in the rankings, I think you should just shut up and say yes, not put your own terms in there. Catch, three rounds… take the fight.”

Reinier de Ridder losing ‘fluffy’ hernandez fight “was a big letdown”

Reinier de Ridder’s previous booking against Anthony ‘Fluffy’ Hernandez for UFC Vancouver was a contest that many saw as a possible title eliminator. But it seems like those same stakes are not attached to this amended booking for RDR.

So in that sense, it’s understandable that he wouldn’t be quite as keen on this new British Columbia-based fight. Touching upon his high-stakes middleweight matchup with Hernandez falling out, de Ridder stated [via MMA Junkie],

“It was a big letdown. It was a shame. He really has a cool skill set, ‘Fluffy’ has, and he came in with a lot of hype, so I was very sad he pulled out. And there were a couple of days I didn’t expect anyone to step up at all to be honest. Nobody wanted to fight. We tried Costa, but Costa wanted on his own terms, so that didn’t happen. I’m very, very grateful that Brendan took the call.”