Alessandro Costa finally got the opportunity he had been waiting for, and he made the most of it on Saturday night at UFC Vegas 118.
The Brazilian flyweight submitted veteran Matt Schnell in impressive fashion, earning one of the biggest victories of his UFC career before immediately turning his attention toward the next goal: breaking into the flyweight rankings.
“It is a fight that I’ve been waiting for quite some time. Thank God everything actually went just according to plan,” Costa told reporters including Cageside Press through a translator on Saturday night.
“When that fight got canceled originally it was an injury. He talked about retirement at that point. I started thinking about other things, you start focusing and shift your focus to other things.”
Costa (16-5) said he felt the finish was inevitable once he secured the dominant position and began working for the submission. While he was proud of the victory, he also showed respect for Schnell afterward, praising the veteran’s career and what he has accomplished inside the Octagon.
“When the hand got in I knew it was just a matter of time. All I needed to do was just finish the job. Whenever he was on the ground I knew it was just a matter of just finishing the fight,” he said.
“I went to him and I just wanted to thank him and say you’ve done a lot in the UFC. This is the sport. Sometimes you lose and I wanted to keep your head high and I just really wanted to thank him because he’s a really cool guy.”
With another impressive victory now on his record, Costa made it clear that he’s no longer interested in fighting outside the rankings. The Brazilian flyweight believes he’s earned the opportunity to test himself against the division’s elite and wants his next fight to come against a ranked opponent.
“I aiming for the top 15. That’s what I’m looking for right now,” he said.
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Alessandro Costa above.