UFC's Chris Curtis hopes for 'slobberknocker' vs. Paulo Costa: 'Give me my shot at the top 10'

LAS VEGAS – UFC middleweight Chris Curtis is still healing up, but he’s getting there.

The hamstring he injured in April during the final seconds of his unanimous decision loss vs. Brendan Allen is nearing it’s final recovery stages. It may never be the same, admitted Curtis (31-11 MMA, 5-3 UFC) – but it’ll be good enough.

“I’m a lot better than I was,” Curtis said Wednesday as he spoke to MMA Junkie Radio at SEICon at Virgin Hotels. “We had lots of improvements. I still had a differential between legs strength-wise. But they’re kind of thinking that might just be where I am now. Like, I’m missing part of my hamstring. It’s just gone. It’s de-spawned. It’s gone forever. So that may be my new normal. … You’ve got three parts of your hamstring. The inside part has two attachment heads. One of those heads just de-spawned forever, just never to be seen again. It just obliterated in the injury. It’s just gone.

“You know what? That’s life. You have half of that hamstring now. It is what it is. I feel good. I’ve been back training this week. Last week was my first full week of training. We’ve done the same thing this week. I’m back to wrestling. I’m back to sparring and everything else. This might just be my new normal. Forget it.”

Back to training, Curtis hopes for an October return. Now that he’s gained the UFC’s respect for his “anytime, anywhere” attitude, Curtis has told the promotion who he wants next and when.

“Personally, they already know,” Curtis said. “I want to fight Paulo Costa. I think that’s a fun fight. That’s a slobberknocker. That would be really fun. Nothing against Paulo Costa. I like Paulo Costa, but I feel like, honestly, I should’ve won the last fight. … I thought I won it. Most of the world thought I won it. But one of the judges was clearly high. Then, the other one got swayed by the last 10 seconds. What was the judge who scored it like four rounds to one. … You are high. Never judge again. You were terrible.

“… I thought I’d be inside the top 10. I didn’t get it. Let me fight Costa. Give me my shot at the top 10. I always jump if you guys need a fight. I’m the guy who jumps in. Let me have Costa. I think that would be really fun.”

Curtis, 37, has bounced between welterweight and middleweight throughout his UFC tenure, with mixed results against middle and upper-tier competition. He’s 3-3 with one no contest in his most recent seven outings.

Costa, 33, has competed twice in 2024 thus far, losing both fights by unanimous decision. The first was against Robert Whittaker; the second against Sean Strickland. The defeats moved Costa to 1-4 in his most recent five fights. His immediate next move is not clear.