With Paulo Costa suddenly becoming available following the announcement of Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa, Costa has a very willing replacement eager to take Romero’s place, that being #12-ranked middleweight Antonio Carlos Junior:
“I’d love to fight him,” Carlos Junior told MMAjunkie. “We’re both Brazilians. We both have some issues we need to solve. We were in the same house. I’m ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ champion. He lost inside the house, and now he’s like, ‘Oh, I’m the guy of the moment.’ That’s not what happened.
“I’d like to do this for the fans. I’d like to do this for the UFC because it looks like everybody in the rankings either has a fight or got an injury. I would be the only one he could fight, and for me it’s the same, so it would be great for me.”
Paulo Costa is currently ranked #7 in the middleweight division, five spots ahead of Antonio Carlos Junior, something which Carlos Junior has cited in the past as being an injustice. What it comes down to is the fact that Carlos Junior believes he is the superior fighter to Paulo Costa with more dues paid:
“I’m fighting for too long,” Carlos Junior said. “I know I had some bad moments in the fight against Dan Kelly. Before that, it was everything good. But after that, I feel like people forgot me. I’m ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ champion. I submit people. I knocked people out inside the house. Beware.”
“Everybody wants to choose the opponent,” Carlos Junior said. “If you want to be a champion, you can’t choose the opponent. In my sport – I’m a jiu-jitsu world champion – I’ve got to fight everybody. I can’t choose who I’m going to fight, so I’ve got to fight everybody. That’s how I became the world champion.”
Is a fight between Paulo Costa vs. Antonio Carlos Junior a fight you would like to see?
