Middleweight Roman Kopylov, coming off a head kick finish of Chris Curtis, faced off with ex-title challenger Paulo Costa at UFC 318 on Saturday.
Costa was 1-4 across five fights dating back to his 2020 title challenge against then-champ Israel Adesanya. The pairing served as the co-main event in New Orleans on Saturday, with UFC 318 headlined by Dustin Poirier’s retirement fight.
Costa opened with a kick to the body, and would target the body and leg with a couple more moments later. When Kopylov came inside, Costa was ready to answer him. Another hard kick from Costa followed. Then another to the body. A left hand landed for Costa, then one for Roman Kopylov. The story of the first half of round one was the kicks of Paulo Costa, but Kopylov landed a solid punch just past the halfway mark, with Costa feeling it then waving the Russian on anyway. Then it was Kopylov ripping a body kick, leading to more exchanges on the feet.
Round two, Costa fell back on his kicks some more. Plenty of power behind each. Kopylov burst forward, looking to attack, but Costa stopped him in his tracks, no opening to be found. Between some decent combos and those heavy body kicks, Kopylov was being stymied, at least for the moment. Kopylov would fire a solid kick to the body of his own, landing it with a thud. Costa then moved in, ripped the body, and backed Kopylov up. A right hand then rocked Kopylov! He’d stay in the fight, but Costa was in control, firing kick after kick as the round closed out.
Kopylov looked to get himself back in the fight in round three, backing Paulo Costa up to the fence. Costa appeared to have slowed a step, and was just pawing with his left hand. Kopylov, meanwhile, landed down the middle, but didn’t follow up with it. Costa fired a kick to the body, and suddenly there was all of 90 seconds on the clock. Costa changed levels, grabbing a leg, but couldn’t complete the takedown. Battling it out to the final bell, Costa appeared to have done enough to secure his first win since beating Luke Rockhold in 2022.
Official Result: Paulo Costa def. Roman Kopylov by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
