What is too much in terms of match withdrawal in UFC?

There is no textbook definition, but Paulo Costa's fifth withdrawal in a span of three years prompted UFC legend Michael Bisping to call him a madman.

Borrachinha was supposed to face Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 on October 21, but he again pulled his name out of the card, citing an infection on his elbow that underwent surgery.

Bisping is baffled by the decisions made by the Brazilian.

"If you go to his Tapology, it shows not only the fights that he had but the fights that fell through and there's a lot of them," he said during an appearance at the Believe You Me podcast.

"He's out of his mind, I'm a fan of Costa, I love what he brings to the table. I was excited for his fight with Chimaev, you know they've been going back and forth, sending each other DM's and stuff like that and Khamzat was in the DM's of his wife but look at all these cancelled bouts. Ikram, Khamzat, Rockhold, Cannonier, Robert Whittaker, do you know what I mean. There's more down there. He's a bit of a... well he's a bit of a madman isn't he."

When did Costa's indecisiveness start?

Costa was an unbeaten fighter in 2020 until he met Israel Adesanya for UFC 253. The 32-year-old lost the match after the referee decided to stop the game in the second round.

His next bout took place after 13 months when he faced and lost to Marvin Vettori. His next bout, a win against Luke Rockhold, also took place with almost a year of interval.

He withdrew from a supposed 2021 fight against Robert Whitaker due to severe flu and did the same in the scheduled fight against Kelvin Gastelum due to pay issues.

Costa has his reasons, but fans join Bisping in being baffled by his decision, especially since he won his last match.