Paulo Costa is back in the winner’s column.
Roman Kopylov tried his best to mount a late surge, but Costa (15-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) built a lead too big to overcome. The middleweight bout served as the co-main event of UFC 318 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans. After 15 minutes, “The Eraser” outstruck Kopylov (14-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) to win a unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28).
Costa started the action with a series of hard kicks. Kopylov attempted to find a home for a few punches, but Costa was quick to slip and counter as they exchanged in the center. Costa continued to land well as the round wore on, mixing up his targets with punches and kicks.
With a minute to go in the round, Kopylov attempted to close the distance and got dropped with a hard punch. His mouthpiece went flying, too. Costa swarmed for the finish, but Kopylov remained tight defensively to get back to his feet to see the next round.
Early in Round 2, Costa continued working Kopylov’s body and legs with hard kicks. Costa’s pressure was high as he feinted and bounced around lightly on his feet, hitting his target repeatedly. A big punch stunned Kopylov, but he didn’t go down. A moment later, another big right hand cracked Kopylov.
Heading into the final round with all of the momentum, Costa continued to stick and move. Kopylov turned up the pressure, knowing he needed to turn the tide of the fight. As they traded strikes, Kopylov landed a very stiff punch that buckled Kopylov, but he couldn’t capitalize on the moment as Costa taunted while firing back.
During his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier, Costa called out Khamzat Chimaev, mentioning he wants revenge for sending DMs to his wife. Chimaev is currently set to face Dricus Du Plessis for the middleweight title at UFC 319 on Aug. 16.
With the win, Costa gets back on track after a rough 1-4 patch, including back-to-back losses to former champions Robert Whittaker and Sean Strickland. Costa’s previous win came against another former titleholder, Luke Rockhold, by unanimous decision at UFC 278 in August 2022. The result halts Kopylov’s momentum, who entered as a winner of two straight against Cesar Almeida and Chris Curtis.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 318 results
- Paulo Costa def. Roman Kopylov via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Daniel Rodriguez def. Kevin Holland via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Patricio Freire def. Dan Ige via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Michael Johnson def. Daniel Zellhuber via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Vinicius Oliveira def. Kyler Phillips via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Brendan Allen def. Marvin Vettori via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Nikolay Veretennikov def. Francisco Prado via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
- Ateba Gautier def. Robert Valentin via TKO (strikes) – Round 1, 1:10
- Islam Dulatov def. Adam Fugitt via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:06
- Jimmy Crute def. Marcin Prachnio via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 4:42
- Ryan Spann def. Lukasz Brzeski via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 2:47
- Brunno Ferreira def. Jackson McVey via submission (armbar) – Round 1, 3:35
- Carli Judice def. Nicolle Caliari via TKO (knee, punches) – Round 3, 1:30
