Reinier de Ridder is not interested in fighting Paulo Costa right now.
Costa (15-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) criticized De Ridder’s split decision win over Robert Whittaker in Saturday’s UFC on ABC 9 headliner in Abu Dhabi, where he survived a knockdown in Round 3 to win the fight.
“With all due respect, I would knock out de Ridder 3 x wich round. All that said congrats for your win today, despite bad fight.”
An account under De Ridder’s name on X responded by calling out Costa for a November showdown in Madison Square Garden. However, De Ridder’s manager Ali Abdelaziz confirmed that the account was fake.
“I think it was Paulo Costa himself – I think he had both accounts going on,” De Ridder told Inside Fighting.
Costa snapped a two-fight losing skid by defeating Roman Kopylov at UFC 318 – a week prior to De Ridder’s win over Whittaker. De Ridder (21-2 MMA, 4-0 UFC) currently has his sights set on a title shot, not Costa.
“He’s a funny dude. It would lead to a nice press conference and a nice build-up, but I don’t give a f*ck what he says,” De Ridder said. “You can call me whatever you want to call me. Call me gay every day of the week. I don’t mind. Maybe one day (we’ll fight). But at the moment, I don’t think he’s there. I don’t think he’s at my level – though he did do very well in his last fight. He does pretty well against southpaws with the body kick and the straight right hand. So, he’s alright, but I think he has some work to do first.”
