Paulo Costa should probably stick to throwing strikes inside the octagon.
On Tuesday night, Costa was given the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch ahead of the New York Mets game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, which took place at Citi Field in Queens, N.Y. The UFC middleweight contender competes in Newark, N.J., this Saturday, when he takes on Sean Strickland in the co-main event of UFC 302.
Costa took the mound and attempted a throw to the plate, but was just a tad wild and he sent his pitch sailing to the left.
Check out video of the attempt below.
Costa’s overhand right might be a dangerous weapon on fight night, but the looping throw won’t have major league scouts lining up to sign him anytime soon.
“Come on, ‘What’s wrong?’” Costa said at UFC 302 media day on Wednesday when asked what happened with the pitch. “A little bit outside, yeah. It was amazing, great, I just missed the guy. I put too much power, I think. I tried to put a lot of speed on the ball and then I was not accurate, but it was funny.”
“Next time, I will try to hit the guy and I will bring better luck for the Mets,” he added.
Fortunately for Costa, he gets back to doing what he does best when he takes on Strickland at UFC 302. Costa and Strickland—No. 8 and No. 2 in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, respectively—are both angling to stay in the title picture, with Costa having lost three of his past four fights (including a title fight loss to Israel Adesanya) and Strickland coming off of a narrow decision loss to Dricus Du Plessis that cost him his UFC championship.
See additional video and photos of Costa’s visit to Citi Field below.
UFC 302 is headlined by lightweight champion Islam Makhachev defending his title against Dustin Poirier.