Paulo Costa’s decision to move up to light heavyweight and face undefeated Azamat Murzakanov next at UFC 327, which goes down April 11 in Miami, is part of a project to “make history” and become a UFC champion in two weight classes.
Costa moved his camp to Largo, Fla., to have veteran trainer Andre Benkei as his head coach at UFC Gym Largo. Surrounded by a new group of trainers and partners, with his brother Carlos Costa assisting from afar, “Borrachinha” decided to pass on an offer to face middleweight Brunno Ferreira in March to go up to 205 pounds and take on Murzakanov.
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“‘Borrachinha’ is focused on becoming world champion,” Benkei told MMA Fighting. “He wants to become world champion within a year. The guy is giving up everything, he doesn’t even live at home. His mind is ready for this now.”
Benkei praises Ferreira as “an excellent fighter,” but “that fight wouldn’t add anything to the project of becoming champion.” Costa won his last fight with a decision over Roman Kopylov in July 2025.
“[Costa] didn’t even sign the contract,” Benkei said. “He only agreed to it, discussed the possibility, because [the UFC] didn’t give us any option in the top 10 or top 5. And on the day he said, ‘Alright, let’s look at this fight,’ two top-ranked fighters got booked. If those guys weren’t available to us, how did they end up fighting? He was a bit upset with the UFC.
“Then the UFC tried to adjust things and said, ‘Look, let’s do this. You want to fight at 205? We’ll give you a chance. If you win this fight, you get a top-5 spot in both divisions and you can move forward in both and go for the title in either one if you want.’ That’s a challenge worth taking because I think he’s ready. ‘Borrachinha’ has that eye of the tiger now, so let’s go. That’s why he moved up. We’re moving up to become champion in both divisions. To make history. That’s what he wants to do. [He said] ’I don’t just want to win, I want to make history.’”
Benkei has worked with a long list of legends throughout decades as a MMA coach, but said he’s never trained a gifted athlete like Costa.
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“He impressed me a lot physically. Truly impressive,” Benkei said. “I’ve never trained a guy with a physical reaction like his. I had never seen it. Extremely fast in his responses, you know? What would take me six months, a year to develop with others, I get with him in two or three months. We didn’t do a full camp, only a partial one because we were heading into a fight and I didn’t even reach the final phase of accelerating the athlete. And even without that phase he already had astonishing speed.
“I don’t believe anyone matches his strength [at 185], and at light heavyweight, honestly, maybe not either. This kid is unbelievably strong. That’s feedback from the wrestlers training with him, usually from the higher weight class, and from Yuri, who’s a monster on the ground. He’s almost impossible to hold. The guy’s hips weigh a ton. He gained serious strength. And most importantly, his speed is impressive.”
Costa is training with high-level wrestlers in Florida, having former D1 All-American Nik Fekete and ADCC gold medalist Yuri Simoes as part of the coaching staff. A jiu-jitsu back belt with most of his MMA wins coming by knockout, the light heavyweight version of “Borrachinha” is dropping strikers in the gym.
“In one of his sparring sessions with a kickboxing kid, he threw a jab and a kick from the same side so fast — without power, he didn’t want to hurt or knock the guy out — but there was no way around it, it was an instant flash knockdown,” Benkel said. “The guy went out because it lands so fast you don’t even see it, you know? Imagine if he really puts pressure on. I think he’s going to have huge success at 205.”
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The doors are still open to return to middleweight, Benkei said. In fact, the plan is to call out a specific middleweight after UFC 327, but he doesn’t plan on revealing the name until his hand is raised in Miami. Murzakanov is the task ahead, a 16-0 middleweight with 12 knockouts to his credit, but Benkei sees the Brazilian being the more versatile of the two.
“He’s a tank. He has good speed but is short for the weight class. That won’t affect us because, in terms of speed, we’ll be equal or ‘Borrachinha’ will even have the advantage. [Murzakanov] has very heavy hands, but he’s one-dimensional. He relies too much on that swing. Most of his knockouts, everything he does, is built around that swing. High-quality work on speed and movement will frustrate him a lot.”
