Not many athletes on the UFC roster had a bigger 2025 than Melquizael Costa. But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Brazilian who first stepped onto the scene back in 2023, stepping in on short notice and up a weight class to face veteran Thiago Moises in his UFC debut.
Things unfortunately didn’t go his way; he was submitted in that fight. But after going down to his natural weight class, the 29-year-old picked up his first win against Austin Lingo in his sophomore outing, before falling to Steve Garcia to close out 2023.
However, since then, there has been a fire lit underneath him, and something has changed because Costa has been racking up wins left and right.