Reinier de Ridder laughs at the insults and reactions of Paulo Costa on Fake Twitter account: ‘Keep trying’

Reinier de Ridder knew that beating a former UFC champion such as Robert Whittaker would receive a lot of attention and many callouts from hunters who suddenly wanted to challenge him.

Perhaps Chief among them is a one-off title finer Paulo Costa, who stopped a two-field slip with a decision victory on Roman Kopylov on UFC 318, and he immediately started launching insults at De Ridder after his victory over Whittaker. Even days later, Costa still went on social media on his tirade, but it appears that many of his answers were aimed at a fake account that was not really the knight.

That account was eventually suspended, but De Ridder couldn’t help it, but laugh at the antics of Costa while he paid attention to his online matchmaking skills.

“He really wants, really battle, I think,” De Ridder told MMA Fighting. “He really wants to set up something. Keep trying. Keep trying, Paulo. You will come there.”

The beating of Whittaker – an achievement that Costa did not achieve when he had the same fight in 2024 – put the knight near the top of the ranking of the middleweight division and probably no more than one victory away from a title shot.

In fact, in view of the buzz that he has received with a perfect 4-0 record since he participated in the UFC selection, which now includes victories on Whittaker and highly promoted prospect Bo Nickal, there is certainly a world where De Ridder gets a shot on gold in his next fight.

That is why he does not sweat no callouts from Costa or anyone else because De Ridder has larger goals in his mind.

“He would be a nice structure,” De Ridder said about fighting Costa. “Would be very nice in the press conference and everything with Paulo because he is a character. But at the moment I don’t think he’s there.”

With a 2-4 record in the past six fights by Costa, it is difficult to argue with the assessment of De Ridder, especially knowing how close he could be with a title shot.

Although he has remained incredibly active since he signed at the UFC after a weak apart with one championship, De Ridder admits that he is ready for a small break and maybe a vacation. In the meantime, UFC Middenweight King Drus Du Persis defends his title against Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC 319 Main Event, which is a Fight De Ridder, is certainly planning to look.

“Every time I came to the UFC, I had set a fight three days after the last fight,” said De Ridder. “But I don’t think it will be the case this time. It will take a few weeks, at least I want to see the Khamzat-Dric fight first and then we will see what is happening. We will see. I think that is smart to keep a little back.

“It has been four fights in eight months. I would definitely want to spend some time on the beach, some nice barbecue eating, having a good time with the children and the woman. That is what I am looking for now, but I can never stay inactive for too long. I might be in the gym rather than later, but it would be nice to chill a little too.”

A five -round war ending in a victory over an established veteran like Whittaker has De Ridder in a very good position for the future. He finally gets the recognition he earns after his victory over Nickal was largely overshadowed by the former Penn State Wrestler who suffers his first loss.

Now De Ridder has taken a dramatic step forward in the ranking and he knows that the champion that runs from UFC 319 now has to pay attention to him.

“I am now top five as far as I know,” said De Ridder. “I come there. Give me a few weeks to recover and let’s see if I can climb higher.”