An evening to recollect for Alessandro Costa

UFC 301 was a particular second in Alessandro Costa’s combating profession – one he’ll bear in mind for the remainder of his life.

The UFC flyweight had what he known as the “full package deal.” He fought for the very first time in his native nation of Brazil, bought a TKO end over his opponent Kevin Borjas, earned a $50,000 Efficiency of the Night time bonus, and acquired a private congratulation from his idol Jose Aldo.

Life is sweet for Costa (14-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC).

However first, earlier than the win, earlier than the bonus cash, Costa was simply blissful to be residence. In his late teenagers, he moved to Puebla, Mexico, to pursue his dream of turning into a fighter and opening an MMA academy together with his shut pal Diego Lopes. Simply combating in Brazil, the place his father and buddies would get to observe him battle for the primary time, was a deal with for him.

“It was unbelievable, and it was much more than what I anticipated,” Costa informed MMA Junkie in Spanish, reflecting on his first skilled battle on residence soil. “It was very cool. All of the individuals have been behind me. Even on the faceoff, when my opponent walked out, everybody was booing him, and after I got here in, everybody stored chanting, ‘You’re going to die.’ So, that sort of help I didn’t anticipate.

“It made me actually blissful, and I feel that helped me to battle at my finest on Saturday.”

Costa opened up the occasion in a flyweight bout towards Peru’s Borjas (9-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC). The Brazilian was coming off an in depth, aggressive determination loss to Steve Erceg, who was combating for the 125-pound title in the principle occasion of the cardboard.

Costa went on the market and dominated Borjas from begin to end. He chopped him down with leg kicks within the second, after which mounted him to complete him with ground-and-pound. The victory bought him a Efficiency of the Night time bonus.

“In the event you have a look at my battle (the place I received a bonus) towards Flick, I principally took the identical route,” Costa defined. “After I had his again, I considered submitting him with a rear-naked choke or an armbar, however then I remembered I received the bonus towards Flick due to the bottom and pound, so I needed to do the identical. I simply adopted the identical steps that took me to my first bonus. I promise you, this complete week I used to be pondering of the bonus. I wasn’t simply combating to win, I needed to win the bonus.

“… It bought powerful for a second with Michel Pereira and Caio Borralho’s win. After I noticed these finishes, I stated, ‘Man, there goes my bonus.’ However then, after I was on the lodge, I used to be already on the brink of sleep when my coach, Pancho, wrote to me saying I had received the bonus. My supervisor’s spouse known as me, ‘Hey, it’s good to come down and have a good time,’ so I jumped away from bed and went and celebrated with everybody.

Issues didn’t cease escalating for Costa there. Simply when he thought it couldn’t get any higher, the next day he fired up a reside stream on his Instagram account – and none aside from his idol Jose Aldo, who received in his return from retirement within the co-main occasion of the cardboard. Costa had been fanboying all week over Aldo, and informed MMA Junkie it was an honor and dream come true to be combating on the identical card as him.

“All the things was simply excellent,” Costa stated. “You know the way throughout battle week you’re doing interviews and stuff? UFC put me in a room to do an interview, and he (Aldo) was ending one, so I had the possibility to introduce myself and discuss to him. UFC Brazil truly uploaded that video to TikTok. I informed him that he was the primary fighter I adopted after I began coaching jiu-jitsu and that he was an enormous inspiration for me. It was a dream come true to fulfill him and in addition battle on the identical card as him. It was unbelievable.

“He went within the Instagram reside and congratulated me and stated, ‘Go, Manaus!’ and he stated I used to be superb and that he’s blissful for me. This is among the finest moments of my profession, given every part that’s occurred. It was the entire package deal. I’m so grateful, and this motivates me to work even more durable. I’m not glad, don’t get me fallacious, however this simply motivates me and makes me actually blissful.”