Ankalaev and Costa Clash Over Rounds and Pay for UFC Fight
Magomed Ankalaev said he has already accepted a fight with Paulo Costa three or four times, and that the holdup is no longer whether he will take it.
The No. 1 light heavyweight posted the claim on X after Costa spent Friday blasting UFC matchmaker Hunter Campbell over rounds and money.
“Hunter and Mick offered me this fight 3–4 times. I said yes every time,” Ankalaev wrote. “Three rounds, five rounds—I don’t care. You’re a top contender, I’m #1. It makes sens but we are main event fighter five round makes sense.”
Costa agreed with the matchup and immediately put the price on the table.
“I agree with you in everything, now it’s up to @ufc and Hunter pay us accordingly to make that fight happen this year,” Costa wrote. “It can be November or December, it’s up to your schedule and up to ufc do the right thing.”
That is the entire argument in two posts. Ankalaev wants the fight and prefers five rounds. Costa wants the fight this year and will not work a championship distance on three-round pay.
Costa made that last part explicit.
“I’m not going to take 5 rounds for the price of 3. That would be stupid—it’s definitely stupid; anyone who does that is an idiot.”
He also said Campbell will not give him a standard three-round booking.
“Its incredible CRAZY how Hunter won’t give me a regular, standard three-round fight; he insists on keeping it with me,” Costa wrote. “He saying nobody is available till, maybe next year. Can you believe on this bullsh*t? lol. If you’re an LHW in @ufc roaster and want to fight, let’s bring it to him.”
Mick is Mick Maynard, the other UFC matchmaker named in Ankalaev’s post.
The pairing has been in the air since the summer. Costa turned down a short-notice five-round date opposite Ankalaev for Abu Dhabi after Khalil Rountree Jr. withdrew.
Costa told Ariel Helwani the offer was a 16-hour flight, five rounds, and the same money with no interim title attached. Ankalaev then stopped Bogdan Guskov in the fifth round on July 25.
Ankalaev later said Costa had turned him down three times. Costa’s new posts frame those refusals as pay and scheduling, not fear of the name.
Ankalaev is the former champion. He beat Alex Pereira at UFC 313, lost the belt back to Pereira at UFC 320, and is 22-2-1 after the Guskov win.
Carlos Ulberg holds the title after stopping Jiri Prochazka at UFC 327. Ankalaev sits No. 1. Costa is ranked in the top 10 at 205 after moving up from middleweight.
Costa is 16-4. He knocked out previously unbeaten Azamat Murzakanov in the third round on April 11 and has not fought since.
He has said that win was the last fight before the final bout on his UFC contract. That is why the November-or-December window matters to him.
A five-round main event between the No. 1 fighter and a ranked knockout artist is the kind of card the UFC usually sells as a title eliminator. Costa’s position is that the extra 10 minutes have to show up in the purse.
Ankalaev already said the five-round version “makes sense” because both men are main-event fighters. He also said he would take three.
The promotion now has two publicly willing opponents and one public dispute about the rate. Campbell has not posted a response to Friday’s thread.
If the UFC pays for five, the fight can land before the year ends. If it stays at three-round money, Costa has already said he will not do it.
The division does not get cleaner while that standoff sits on X. Ulberg is champion. Ankalaev is the highest-ranked man without a date. Costa is the loudest available name at 205.
Friday did not book Ankalaev vs. Costa. It did put the remaining obstacles in writing: rounds, money, and whether Hunter Campbell wants the fight on the 2026 calendar.