What to Know
- Plenty of celebrities are seen ringside at boxing cards, but the appearance of UFC fighter Paulo Costa in Carson on Saturday drew serious speculation about his future.
- The light heavyweight is coming off a sensational win, but has made no secret of his unhappiness with the UFC.
- After the Pacheco vs Aleem main event, Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn told boxing media he and Costa are discussing a management agreement.
Even the boxing media who tend to stay in their lane of combat sports couldn’t help but notice the presence of UFC light heavyweight star Paulo Costa at Dignity Health Sports Park on Saturday in Carson, California.
It was a surprise to see the Brazilian martial artist at a boxing event like the Matchroom Sport card featuring Diego Pacheco and Immanuwel Aleem in the main event, with no obvious tie to the competition in the ring.
The competition is for Costa’s future. Costa (16-4-0), known as “The Eraser,” is the Meta number four-ranked light heavyweight and ranked 14th overall in the Meta UFC rankings. He is coming off a sensational TKO win in April over Azamat Murzakanov of Russia (16-1). Costa’s impressive third-round headkick knockout at UFC 327 handed Murzakanov his first loss.
Paola Costa Unhappy With His UFC Situation
Costa has made no secret of his unhappiness with the UFC. In a social media post on June 29, Costa expressed his unhappiness about the opportunities being offered to him with one fight left on his existing contract.
Since I defeated Azamat in April, I have been looking for the next fight. I ve eventually opened the door to fight at heavyweight. UFC told me to wait…wait…
Here we are it’s already July and I still looking to fight someone else at Lightheavyweight, middleweight or even…— Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA) June 29, 2026
Costa turned up the heat during his appearance earlier in the week on The Ariel Helwani Show.
It all set the scene for his meeting with Matchroom Sport chairman Eddie Hearn on Saturday prior to the Carson boxing card.
Hearn and Costa Meet Over Management Deal
Costa talked with Hearn about his new Matchroom Talent Agency. Hearn’s first signing was with Tom Apinall in March, sending a shockwave through the combat sports world. Aspinall was quickly followed by Ian Garry in June. Now? It seems likely Costa will make it a trio.
The pending deal was confirmed when Hearn met with key boxing media after the fight card’s conclusion in Carson, including with NY Fights. But Hearn reveals much more about his plans than merely representing Aspinall, though it wasn’t originally his intention.
“Yeah, you know what? Like since we signed Tom, we’ve probably had or at least a dozen UFC fighters reach out to us,” said Hearn, adding he has also signed professional rugby stars, but it set up a difficult situation with the Matchroom Talent Agency. He confirmed Costa was one of those dozen.
“We didn’t launch to become an MMA management company, but clearly it’s a very interesting space. And obviously, in the narrative of what’s happening, you know, with ‘the other fella’ (meaning UFC’s Dana White, which drew knowing chuckles from us reporters present), “it’s really interesting for us.”
Does Eddie Hearn Have Matchroom MMA Ambitions?
Hearn then surprised everyone, including me, with his candor about his intentions.
“It gives me the opportunity to learn the industry, understand the sport before we inevitably move into that space.
“But I’m not going to move into MMA knowing nothing about it. I don’t think that’s right because it’s just like, again, I’ve got to stop having pops, and a lot of my pops are sarcastic,” added Hearn.
The surprises continued with a backhanded but sincere compliment by Hearn for Dana White.
“We’re supposed to be in these peace talks, right? It’s like, I don’t want to like start upsetting people again. But when you don’t know anything about the sport, it really shows when you’re talking, right? When you’re looking at notes, and you’re kind of reading off stuff. Whereas when you know something, you don’t need notes. You speak from the heart. You speak from the mind, like Dana White does when he talks about UFC.
“He lives and breathes it. He doesn’t need, you know, when he’s got his stuff up there. He knows every guy what they did in the last fight. And then all of a sudden, you go into another.”
Hearn discussed the substance of his talk with Paolo Costa, and if he’s to be believed, he told the light heavyweight talent he isn’t ready to move into his sport just yet.
“That’s what I said to Paolo. You’re never going to see me screaming and shouting at your fights, telling you to lock the guys off. I don’t really know anything about it.”
What does Hearn know? “I know about contracts. I know about promotion. I know about marketing, and I know how to move athletes in the right direction.”
Watch Eddie Hearn’s Interview with NY Fights
Helwani Sparked the Hearn Meeting For Paolo Costa
Hearn said Costa was motivated to contact him after his interview with Helwani.
“He actually reached out to Ariel Hawaii to ask for my number, and he called me, and he said, ‘I want your help.
‘I’ve seen what you’ve been doing with Aspinall, seeing what you’ve been doing with me and Garry, I’ve seen what you’ve been saying about us, and I want you to represent me.’
“And I was like, I could sign 12 UFC fighters tomorrow and just have the biggest management company in MMA. That’s not really a direction that we necessarily want to go in.”
But the wheels are always turning in Hearn’s head.
“Anyway, after I spoke with him, I really thought. I mean, firstly, I started to understand and speak to other people about how big this guy is, how good this guy is, and I liked him.
“And you know, he has one fight left on his UFC contract, and it’s a really interesting time in his career. He made it clear that he wants what he wants. He wants me to be his guy and to represent him. I think there’s every chance I’m going to.
“We had a great meeting tonight. He flew here tonight to see me. Loved the night. Loved the experience. He’s a very, very good stand-up individual who is in a really interesting contractual position. So yeah, I think there’s every chance you’ll see the collab with Eddie Hearn and Matchroom Talent and Paolo Costa.”
Will Matchroom Talent Become Matchroom MMA?
The intriguing seed planted in the discussion about Costa’s representation is Hearn’s admission that he WANTS to learn a great deal more about MMA. To what end? The competition between Hearn and Dana White is well known, to the point there have been repeated discussions about the pair facing off in a ring themselves.
But Hearn would get far more satisfaction beating White at his own game. The Matchroom Talent Agency may just be the way to kick that door open.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.
