UFC fighter Paulo Costa accused of striking a nurse during COVID dispute

By Susan Cox - May 31, 2022

UFC fighter Paulo Costa is being accused of striking a nurse during a COVID dispute.

paulo-costa

Apparently the middleweight contender was arrested by the police in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Costa, 31, is being accused of striking a health care professional at a local medical center after she refused to issue the fighter an immunization card for the COVID-19 vaccine. The claim is that ‘The Eraser‘ wanted the immunization card without actually getting the vaccine.

The Brazilian fighter is said to have claimed he was vaccinated and was only looking for a record of the immunization, and took the card. The nurse apparently grabbed Costa in an effort to stop him from taking the card and in turn he threw an elbow, causing the nurse to suffer a swollen lip during/after the altercation.

Paulo Costa

Image Credit: UFC

Costa was soon released from custody when investigators determined that there was no video evidence of the supposed incident.

The reported information is coming from the news source ‘Globo.com‘.

Paulo Costa (13-2 MMA) is scheduled to fight Luke Rockhold (16-5 MMA) at UFC 278 on Saturday August 20, 2022.

Costa is coming off of two losses in a row, to Marvin Vettori (18-5 MMA) and Israel Adesanya (21-1 MMA) respectively. Prior to those defeats, Costa had a stellar record of 13 wins in a row.

Rockhold also has two losses coming into the fight, losing to Jan Blachowicsz (29-9 MMA) at UFC 239 and Yoel Romero (13-5 MMA) at UFC 221.

Paulo Costa, aka ‘Borrachinha’, has not yet issued a statement concerning the alleged incident.

Who are you picking to emerge victorious when Costa and Rockhold throw down later this summer at UFC 278? What do you think of the reports that ‘The Eraser’ struck a hospital nurse during a COVID dispute?