Joe Rogan believes the UFC light heavyweight division should keep moving forward while Carlos Ulberg recovers from his injury.
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Carlos Ulberg shocked the fight world earlier this month when he knocked out Jiri Prochazka in the main event of UFC 327 to claim the light heavyweight title.
It was a career-changing win for ‘Black Jag’, but it came with a setback, as he tore his ACL during the fight, an injury that required surgery.
Ulberg has since had the procedure done in Las Vegas and now faces an extended spell on the sidelines as he works through his recovery.
Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty ImagesJoe Rogan backs Paulo Costa for interim title shot after impressive debut
On the same card, Paulo Costa made his debut at 205lbs, stepping up from middleweight to face Azamat Murzakanov in the co-main event. Costa picked up a third-round finish over the undefeated Russian, which immediately put him into the light heavyweight rankings.
Reacting to Costa’s performance on his podcast, Rogan was quick to say it might have been the best version of Costa we’ve seen so far.
“Murzakanov, I was so impressed that he just wouldn’t abandon that strategy of going after Paulo Costa. But (Costa) looked phenomenal, if I was in his corner, I would say ‘dude, never go back to middleweight, you are a light heavyweight champion’.
“And while Carlos Ulberg is going to be out for a year… Paulo Costa could be the interim light heavyweight champion, like no doubt man I really think he could pull that off. At light heavyweight he’s terrifying, he looks like the Paulo Costa of old.”
The UFC has yet to make any official plans for an interim belt, but Dana White hasn’t closed the door on the idea as Ulberg faces a long road back.
If it were up to Rogan, he’d have no hesitation putting Costa forward for one side of that fight.
“When you look at Paulo Costa’s performances and then you look at this last one, that might be the best Paulo Costa of all time, he looked phenomenal.
“If I was the captain of the ship that’s what I would do (an interim light heavyweight title fight). I would go, ‘hey Paulo, you’re a star’. Maybe against (Magomed) Ankalaev. I know (Alex) Pereira just knocked him out but he deserves to be in it,” Rogan suggested.
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