Paulo Costa still plans to fight for multiple years yet. But, it looks like we won’t see the rising middleweight star competing into his late thirties.

Costa already has timeline for retirement

Since Costa (13-0) joined the UFC in 2017, the Brazilian fighter has lived up the hype that accompanied his undefeated record, as “Borrachinha” has gone 5-0. As a result, Costa is almost certainly next for middleweight champ, Israel Adesanya.

Well, recently Costa spoke with AG Fight. While doing so, the 28-year-old revealed he doesn’t plan to be fighting in ten years time, on account of his concerns regarding brain damage (quotes via Bloody Elbow).

“We know that the brain is made of cells that don’t regenerate anymore, we can only lose them. As you age, that amount of cells decreases, so your reflexes become slower, your speech becomes worse, you forget things.

I do some research some times. There is Rose, from the Gracie family, she runs a brain donation campaign, for fighters, there’s a whole field of research about that.

I want to make my career as soon as possible, conquer everything, then I don’t want to fight after I’m 36. I would gladly give them my brain.”

“That’s a pretty serious issue, because we don’t have the data to find out how much that can affect each of us. Each one will have different symptoms and will react different to that amount of strikes.

What you can do is fight in a way that minimizes those blows to the head.

During a training session, you can wear protective gear, like helmets. That can really minimize the damage.

I wear big gloves, I never spar in MMA gloves, I always wear 16-ounce gloves, so I can avoid strikes to the head.”

Ya. Costa certainly isn’t the first fighter to say they don’t plan to keep fighting far beyond the age of 35. But, often when a fighter reaches that juncture, they find it hard to walk away.

When you consider Costa’s already been fighting since 2012, by the time he’s 36, he will have been competing for around 15 years. So, by that point, he will have been in a lot of fights and countless sparring sessions.

That said, it does sound like he takes extra precautions during sparring to minimize the punishment he absorbs.

Costa’s next bout?

As noted above, the plan is to have Costa fight Adesanya next. Costa was expected to fight Adesanya next, after he defeated Yoel Romero by decision last August.

But, due to bicep injury, Adesanya ended up facing Romero last month and recording a decision victory (in a fight that was widely panned).

 

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