UFC: Paulo Costa out of Robert Whittaker bout because of ‘severe flu’ after Covid-19 diagnosis
- Brazilian fighter’s brother and coach says ‘the flu is taking a long time to go away … he hasn’t fully recovered yet’
- Carlos Costa adds UFC middleweight will get a chest X-ray and other exams done ‘to see if Covid has affected anything’
Paulo Costa’s difficult run of luck continues to hamper him.
The 29-year-old Brazilian middleweight contender has pulled out of the UFC’s April 17 Fight Night main event against Robert Whittaker because of severe flu symptoms, and has been replaced by Kelvin Gastelum.
Costa’s brother and coach told MMA Fighting he has yet to recover from a Covid-19 diagnosis. “Borrachinha” apparently got the coronavirus along with members of his family, about a month ago, and is still showing symptoms including a sore throat and secretion in his chest.
“We just want to postpone [the fight] a week or two so he can recover,” Carlos Costa told MMA Fighting on Tuesday. “He had Covid and then had the flu, and the flu is taking a long time to go away. We just want to postpone [the fight].”
“[Paulo’s] symptoms were moderate,” Carlos added. “But there’s an issue: He never stopped training. He continued training. He hasn’t fully recovered since then.
“His physical conditioning dropped a little bit, and then a few weeks ago he had this severe flu. We’ll get [a] chest X-ray and other exams done to see if Covid has affected anything.”