Send It: UFC Boston’s Randy Costa (4-1) Fights for Fun

“Put your head down, take the good with the bad. Ride the emotional rollercoaster and fucking get it done.”

Randy Costa – the up-and-coming mixed martial artist star from Boston, Massachusetts – looks to get back to his winning ways at UFC Fight Night: Reyes v. Weidman on Friday, October 18 at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

A near-flawless combined amateur and professional record of 7-1, Costa racked up three consecutive amateur victories between April and September 2015 – all three wins totaling less than five minutes combined. Costa did not make his professional debut until more than four years later, yet wasted no time in scoring four consecutive first-round victories totaling less than five minutes combined yet again.

Despite nearly knocking out opponent Brandon Davis (10-7) in the opening seconds, Costa suffered his first career defeat via second-round Rear Naked Choke at UFC 236: Holloway vs. Poirier 2 – which simultaneously served as Costa’s Ultimate Fighting Championship debut.

A longtime stand-out student at Lauzon MMA – owned and operated by UFC Lightweight legend Joe Lauzon – Costa will have his home-state of Massachusetts behind him when he faces fellow Bantamweight Boston Salmon (6-2) – currently scheduled as the Main Card opener and early candidate for Fight of the Night.

Between training camp and helping fellow Boston fighters with their camps, Costa took the time to discuss his goals, his unique background getting into MMA and his devotion to fallen friend and former Massachusetts MMA prospect Devin Carrier.

ON MMA BACKGROUND

I’ve never, ever hit anyone outside a controlled, sanctioned environment. Ever, ever. Never even been close to it. There’s a negative stigma a lot of the time with MMA fighters where they’re cockheads walking around with their chest sticking out thinking they have the biggest dick in the world … it’s not me, man. I don’t really give a fuck.

Never been in a fight literally ever; the only fights I’ve ever been in is what you can see on Tapology and that’s it.

A lot of guys get so wrapped up in the whole fight thing. To me – it’s a fight, yeah. But it’s also a sport. I’m competing in a competition where there’s a ruleset. A fight in the street is not a fight in the cage; I could suck in a street fight – who knows? But I’m OK at competing in this sport where there’s a ruleset.

“He’s a pain in my ass and gives Joe Lauzon and I heart attacks on a weekly basis.” – Greg Rebello, CES Heavyweight Champion / Lauzon MMA x Triforce MMA Coach

ON STAYING LOOSE

I have a very unique mindset with this stuff. A lot of these guys: they put all this pressure on themselves and they get so focused – too over-the-top focused and then they’ll fight with emotion. Me? If you watch even the way I present myself during Fight Week, when I’m walking out, when I’m fighting: dude, I’m fucking laughing the whole time. It’s fun to me.

I like just throwing punches against someone else who’s trying to take my head off.

I don’t get mad, I don’t get too emotionally invested in a negative way; obviously you have to be some sort of invested in this sort of sport. But I don’t think it’s overkill. I love what I do. I love fucking working out all day every day and then getting paid to get into a fistfight a couple Saturday’s each year. It’s really not a bad deal.

“Randy’s been my friend for years now and we came up on the same circuit. He’s always been a kid I respect and consider a friend. Randy’s going to be a force in the division and I’m super excited to watch him fight at the Garden!” – Manny Bermudez (14-1), UFC Bantamweight 

ON GOALS

My back isn’t against the wall with this stuff; I do this shit because I literally fucking love it; it’s fun to me. I don’t give a fuck about the title shit. Maybe five years down the line, this conversation could be different. But right now, dude: I don’t give a fuck about that. Put my face somewhere and pay me to get into a fight, make a name for myself.

I’m trying to become a star. I don’t want to be another typical, decent, sub-par fighter. I want to be a good fighter who has a name behind him. Build my brand, build my business. You can’t do this shit forever, so what good is it going to do to win a belt right now if I can’t do anything with it later? Fuck that. Let’s get some good fights, let’s create this name, let’s build this brand and build for the future.

All that shit is cool and sexy and stuff, and of course I want to be a star. But I don’t want my career to end and then the ‘star-ness’… I don’t want that to end. I want to have the same name and same reputation I do in the cage now in ten years from now when I’m no longer competing in this sport. I’m always going to be a competitor in some way; who knows what that’s going to be down the road? But right now, it’s to fight. I want to take the same energy to my next adventure, which is whenever the fight game ends. Hopefully it doesn’t end for a while, but who really knows? This game is fucking insane.

“Dude comes to bang. Win or lose that’s what the people love about a fighter.” – Brandon Davis, UFC Bantamweight / Dana White‘s The Contender Series (Season 1 Week 4) contract winner / UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Medeiros Fight of the Night winner

ON COMPETING AT UFC FIGHT NIGHT: REYES v. WEIDMAN

There’s no fucking words, dude. If you break it down to the most core thing: I’m getting into a fight in Boston. But if you go and make it a little bit more complex: all I have to do is compete for fifteen minutes in front of all my friends, all my family in the legit arena in the state I live in. You can’t fucking make it up. I won the lottery getting to the UFC with the record I have. I have a lot of great people pushing my name – and I train my fucking ass off.

I’ve won the lottery getting in with the little experience (I have). And now to be able to fight my second UFC fight at the fucking TD Garden? Dude, there aren’t words for that. It’s fucking madness.

But I can’t get too wrapped up in that. I still have to get into a fight at the end of the day. But man, it’s damn fucking cool. That’s for sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8UPPpZ4Uto

ON BOSTON SALMON

This is going to be a banger, for sure. I know Boston – Boston and I actually are friends. The whole lead-up to the fight: you won’t hear a single fucking bad word out of my mouth about him. He’s a fucking great dude. We’re competing, we’re going to fight, I respect him as a person; he’s a fucking great dude. I respect his skill-set; he’s nasty, he’s very punchy, good wrestling, good jiu jitsu, whatever.

When we match up against each other style-versus-style? It’s a fucking fireworks show.

And our obligation is to go out there and lay it on the line. Regardless of our personal experiences with each other – our obligation is to lay it on the line and put on a show. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

“Randy Costa always brings good vibes and makes me gather courage to believe that we can succeed.” – Tateki Matsuda (15-9), first Japanese competitor on The Ultimate Fighter

ON AUTHENTICITY

A lot of these guys put on a show. It’s very clear when someone’s not acting the way they are; they put on a show and they have this fake bullshit. Me? I don’t give a fuck. I’m the same fucking idiot in the cage and out of the cage; does not matter. You could be the random fucking person talking to me in the street or you could talk to me during Fight Week; you’re going to get the same exact thing.

You’re never going to hear me say negative things about my opponent. We’re in it, we have the same dream; all we’re doing is competing against each other. Why am I going to talk negatively about you? You trained, I respect you trained and all we have do do is go out there, we’re going to touch gloves, fight each other and touch gloves after that. That’s it. There’s no reason for me to talk shit.

If I need to talk shit to sell a fight, then that says a lot of negative things about my skill-set. If I can go out there and act the way I am and be who I am and still sell a fight? That says a lot about my skillset. And I’m not trying to sell people on me as a person; I’m trying to sell people on me as a person and as a fighter. It’s a combination; it’s a package. I want to be known as a nice, cool kid and I want to be known as a savage fighter. There doesn’t need to be one way or the other. I don’t need to be a dickhead to anyone. It’s the fight game – yes. But I don’t need to be a dickhead to get my point across.

I’m going to shake your hand, we’re going to fight and that’s it. That’s all there is to it.

It’s the fight game. I’m going to say, “I want to kick Boston’s ass.” Boston’s going to say, “I want to kick Randy’s ass.” That says nothing about our characters; I’m not attacking him as a person. It doesn’t fucking matter. In the gym that I train, I have a lot of great mentors obviously. I’m training with a future UFC Hall of Famer who’s Lauzon. Lauzon is the fucking Bonus king; look at all the money he’s cleared in the UFC without saying a single bad thing about anyone. You don’t need to be a fucking asshole to make money.

You can be genuine, you can be a decent person and still make a couple dollars. That’s all I need to do.

I don’t need to make $43 million dollars fighting in the UFC if I need to talk shit and fucking degrade someone; that’s fucking retarded to me. I want to be me… maybe make $20 million dollars in the UFC and not talk shit about anyone. That’s my outlook. I don’t need to be a dickhead to anyone.

“If you don’t know Randy, I suggest you go out of your way to get to know him. He’s just a GOOD, good dude and he absolutely belongs with the elite of the sport. He’s got one of those infectious personalities that people are drawn to! #Costa2020.” – Matt Bessette (22-9), former Reality Fighting Lightweight Champion x GFL Lightweight Champion x CES Featherweight Champion

ON JOE LAUZON

Joe Lauzon – he’s like family at this point. I’ve been at his gym for a long time; pretty much since I started training MMA. I think he’s kind of seen something in me since I started training, because he’s always held me to a higher standard – a standard I wanted to be held in. And my work ethic has never been questioned. For someone to give their word – he’s obviously on great terms with the UFC – and for someone to put their word or my name out there and have it on his word, on his name and his reputation? That means the world.

That means it’s not a bullshit act. It’s what he says about me and that’s what he thinks. What he’s pushing me to do? That’s what he believes is going to work out. And who am I to say no? I’m just going to shut my mouth, put my head down and do what he says to do. That’s all there is to it. He obviously knows more than I know; just going to listen to him and get it done.

I just swallow my pride, take everything he says and run with it. I can’t question it; I can’t turn my head on him. I just have to literally take it and accept what he says because he’s obviously a lot more experienced and he knows a thing or two about a thing or two. My job is to go there and train and listen to him and that’s what I’m going to continue doing.

Dude, (Lauzon MMA) is the fucking mecca of training in the Northeast. It’s out of this fucking world.

“Randy is one of the most aggressively happy dudes I ever met; the kid is literally having a blast every day… shit-eatin’ grin from ear to ear.” – Peter Barrett (11-3), Dana White‘s The Contender Series (Season 3 Week 10) contract winner

ON DEVIN CARRIER

Devin and I were boys; that was my boy right there. He had his fights locally and I had my fights locally… and then I stopped fighting for a while. Every fucking day: “Randy, you’re a pussy; you got to fight.” “Randy, you’re a pussy; you got to fight.” And then it was, “What if you made it to the UFC?” “What if you made it to the UFC?” I wasn’t fighting at that point so it was kind of like, “Dude, you can make it.” So now that I’m in a position where I have a platform to take his name and bring it to where his dream was? Dude, that’s fucking huge. Not only for myself, not for him but also his family. His family doesn’t want his name to fucking… He’s not here physically but they don’t want the name to die, too.

I’m going to do my part and I’m going to carry my boy with me every step of the way. Just like I know that if roles were revered and he made it this far, he would’ve taken a picture of me and brought it with him the whole way. That’s all there is to it.

I’m not looking for any recognition or any praise for me doing this thing for him; I’m looking for people to take their energy or their focus off of me, look at that picture I’m holding and seeing someone’s dreams were cut short and learn about that kid, too.

They have a scholarship foundation for kids in local MMA and all this stuff; they do a lot of great things for the local MMA community; I’m just doing my part. I don’t want any praise; I just want people to recognize who Devin Carrier was. Whenever I fight, he’s going to fight, too. He’s there with me the whole time. And man, I cannot wait to stand in the middle of the fucking Garden with a picture of my boy. That’s for fucking sure.

This is all just the fucking frosting on the cake, dude. I put all the work in, it’s all paid off. Now I get to carry my boy’s name, bring him to the UFC – the top of the top of the sport – in my fucking hometown where he was from, too. It’s stupid, dude. It’s going to be stupid.

ON ADVICE FOR YOUTH

Go all in. Don’t fucking go half-in, don’t half-ass it. Send that shit completely full-ass. That’s it, all there is to it. Put your head down, take the good with the bad. Ride the emotional rollercoaster and fucking get it done. That’s all you can do. It’s not always fucking sunshine and rainbows; sometimes you have to deal with adversity and that’s all there is to it. Get it done, go all in and if you lose? At least you tried. If you lose and didn’t try? Now you’re just a fucking loser. Let’s fucking send it and who knows. It’s one day can change your life.

Special thank you to Nicole Fountain (TISN Photography), Kelly MacDonald Lendall (CrossFace Productions) and FIGHTprospectsTV for their incredible photography and video.