Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa is a battle between two fantastic middleweights, both of whom have championship ambitions. Whittaker is a former interim champ, while Costa is a former title challenger.
Moneyline Odds
Robert Whittaker – 220
Paulo Costa + 180
*Odds taken from Sports odds direct on Thursday, February 15.
When, Where, and How to Watch?
Place: Honda Center, Anaheim (Los Angeles), California
Date: Saturday, February 17, 2023
Time: 11:00 p.m. ET
How to Watch: PPV
Robert Whittaker is 24-7 overall, with most of his losses happening to real elite opponents. He lost to Israel Adesanya twice, for example, each time in a fight for the title. Further, in his most recent fight, he lost to Dricus Du Plessis, who later went on to become the UFC Middleweight champ.
The fight in question happened last summer and we saw Whittaker lose by TKO in round 2. Fast-forward to February 2023 and he’s hoping to bounce back. Betting odds are in his favor, but he needs to be extra careful as he’s fighting a guy who’s not dissimilar to Du Plessis.
Costa and Du Plessis currently share the No. 1 spot on the list of UFC middleweights who land the most significant strikes per minute.
This will be the first time Costa’s fighting in almost two years. He was supposed to fight a couple of bouts, but they all got canceled for various reasons. Now, he’s ready to fight for the first time since defeating Luke Rockhold in his final UFC fight.
It was Costa’s rebound fight after two straight losses. First, he got TKO-ed by Adesanya in the UFC Middleweight Championship fight; then, he lost to Marvin Vettori in a light heavyweight fight.
Those two losses remain his only defeats in his professional career. When it comes to his wins, he’s got 14 in his portfolio, 11 of which happened by KO/TKO. Arguably his biggest win is the one against Yoel Romero in 2019 who was in his prime at the time.
Whittaker is a very well-rounded fighter, but Costa is superior when it comes to striking. He’s similar to Whittaker’s last opponent, Du Plessis, who beat him by a TKO. Whittaker knows this, which is why he’ll probably go with a more careful approach on Saturday.
