Paulo Costa Willing To Wait For Yoel Romero Fight Following UFC 230 Cancellation

Paulo Costa vs Yoel Romero won’t be going down at UFC 230 on Nov. 3, but the Brazilian says he’s willing to wait until the Cuban is ready to return to get the fight rebooked.

Costa (12-0) was expected to face Romero (13-3) at Madison Square Garden, New York in ten weeks time, but speaking earlier this week on ESPN’s Helwani Show, Romero confirmed that he wouldn’t be fit to return to the Octagon for UFC 230.

“Maybe four or five months,” Romero said regarding his return. “

“The doctor said, ‘Yoel needs more time.’ You know me. If you give me somebody, I take it. But you need to be smart. When the doctor says, ‘You’re ready,’ you can go. I’m waiting.”

“My eye is not ready,” he later continued. “I want to fight, but it is what it is. The doctor said, ‘Yoel cannot fight.’ I want to fight on this card, this show. Anytime you have an opportunity to fight at Madison Square Garden in New York, you’re making history. But I need to wait.”

Costa then responded to the fight cancellation in an interview with Canal Combate (translated by MMA Junkie) and said that he will be more than happy to wait for Romero to return before fighting again.

“It looks like he wants more time to train, to be ready for our fight,” Costa said. “But this fight will happen. I’ll wait for him to return.

“I’ll give him the time he needs to train. The time he finds necessary to be ready for our fight. And I’ll wait. This fight should happen early next year, 2019.”

With Romero ranked #1 in the division, Costa has his eyes on one man and one man only. Romero could be out until the end of the year, but “Borrachinha” appears to be willing to wait it out.

“There’s no reason why I’d do another fight before,” Costa said. “He’s first in the (UFC’s) ranking, so there’s no better fighter for me to fight, considering that Gastelum and Whittaker were already set to fight for the title.

“I think that’s the fight to make. So we’ll wait for him. Whenever he’s ready, I’ll be ready to beat him and go on in my journey toward the belt.”