Paulo Costa

Paulo “Borrachinha” Costa, 28, of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil was one of the VIP guests who watched “UFC 248” ringside. During the post-fight press conference, he appears to be wearing lipstick and eyeshadow, which left many mixed martial arts fans perplexed.

Apparently, the MMA community in general is still not open to the idea of seeing a male MMA fighter wearing makeup, which the fans associate with homosexuality. Based on the reactions of the fans who saw Costa wearing lipstick and eyeshadow, a man wearing makeup is viewed as being gay, which is translated to weakness.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship fans have already embraced Amanda “The Lioness” Nunes, 31, of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil and Nina “The Strina” Ansaroff, 34, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States as openly gay female MMA fighters. But when the two announced that they were expecting their first child together, they still received homophobic comments from the MMA community, the same community that accepted them as LGBT athletes.

It would be a lie if we claim that the MMA community is ready to welcome an openly gay male MMA fighter competing in the UFC. The MMA fans are not even ready to see a male fighter wearing lipstick and eyeshadow.

These fans are too scared of seeing their male MMA heroes “feminized.” The less masculine these fighters look, the weaker they appear to their dear fans.

Paulo Costa

But whether or not Costa is gay should not be the topic in the first place. Whatever he chose to put on his face before attending “UFC 248” should not be what these MMA fans are discussing.

What we should be discussing is Costa’s upcoming fight against the reigning UFC Middleweight Champion. The Brazilian MMA fighter is expected to be the next challenger of Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya, 30, of Auckland, New Zealand.

Costa was supposed to challenge Adesanya at “UFC 248.” However, the Brazilian fighter had to undergo surgery after an injury so he was replaced by Yoel “Soldier of God” Romero, 42, of Pinar del Rio, Cuba and Miami, Florida, USA.

The UFC held “UFC 248” at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA on March 7, 2020. It featured 11 MMA matches.

During the “UFC 248” post-fight press conference, Costa described the bout between Adesanya and Romero a “horrible fight.” The Belo Horizonte native said, “Adesanya is nothing.”

“Adesanya is the most shameful champion I have seen ever,” Costa continued. “He just runs. He’s nothing. He’s scared. He doesn’t deserve talk about him but that fight was s***.”

“I will make him cry,” Costa said of Adesanya. “I will hit him very badly and he will cry like a baby.”

Adesanya defeated Romero via unanimous decision in the main event of “UFC 248.” It  improved the professional MMA record of the Nigerian-Kiwi champ to 19 wins and 0 loss.

Undefeated like Adesanya, Costa currently holds a professional MMA record of 13 wins and 0 loss. Watch the complete “UFC 248” post-fight press conference here: