Paulo Costa slams UFC ‘double standards,’ questions Alex Pereira ranking

Paulo Costa believes the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s policies aren’t the same for every fighter.

Valentina Shevchenko recently vacated her UFC women’s flyweight title to deal with an injury. Natalia Silva will now fight Cong Wang for the vacant flyweight title at UFC 332 on Oct. 3 at Delta Arena in Salt Lake City. This caused a stir, as an interim title would be the option in such scenarios, but Shevchenko vacating the belt has sparked a discussion online about inconsistent practices on the UFC’s part.

Professional Fighters League women’s featherweight champ Cris Cyborg recently noted that UFC women’s bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison has been inactive longer than Shevchenko. Cyborg argues that if inactivity is the criterion, Harrison should also be stripped of her title.

Costa supported Cyborg's claim while slamming the UFC over a discrepancy in its practices for different fighters. “Borrachinha” can’t comprehend why former light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira is ranked in the UFC’s official heavyweight rankings despite having never won at heavyweight.

“Yeah it's really inconvenient; the UFC doesn’t have a consistent standard of behavior or set of rules—they use double standards all the time,” Costa wrote on X. “Another thing is, why on earth is Alex still ranked at Light Heavyweight after fighting and losing at Heavyweight? And why is he ranked 4th at Heavyweight without a single win there—ahead of [Josh Hokit]?”

Pereira (13-4) vacated his light heavyweight title earlier this year and moved up to heavyweight, where he came up short against Ciryl Gane in a bid for the interim title at UFC Freedom 250. Meanwhile, Costa (16-4) has been accusing the UFC of not offering him a suitable matchup for the last remaining fight on his current contract.