Paulo Henrique Costa (born 21 April 1991) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist.

[7] He has an older brother, Carlos Costa, who is a former mixed martial artist and one of Paulo's coaches.

[7] Paulo grew up in Contagem playing football and eventually picking up Muay Thai at the age of nine in order to learn discipline and avoid street fights he was constantly getting into.

[7] A couple of years later, Costa returned to jiu-jitsu and started competing under the tutelage of his brother who was already a purple belt at the time.

Eventually, his brother convinced their mother to support Paulo monetarily for a year in order to pursue his professional martial arts career.

[9] Costa made his promotional debut on 11 March 2017, at UFC Fight Night 106 against Garreth McLellan.

The UFC then proposed a fight with former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks, with a promise to renegotiate after the bout.

[18] In turn, promotion officials elected to pull Hall from that event entirely and reschedule the pairing for 7 July 2018, at UFC 226.

[27] It was revealed that Costa had been suspended for six months by USADA and Comissão Atlética Brasileira de MMA (CABMMA) for receiving prohibited intravenous infusions (IV) more than 100 mL in 12 hours after the weigh-ins in June 2017 at UFC 212 against Oluwale Bamgbose and November 2017 at UFC 217 against Johny Hendricks.

[40] Costa later claimed he never signed the bout agreement and cited issues with his payment, while not confirming them as the reason for his withdrawal.

[49] However, Costa disputed the official announcement by the promotion indicating he had never signed a contract and the fight would not take place.

[51] However, it was announced on July 19 that the promotion opted to scrap the pairing and instead move him to face Khamzat Chimaev on 21 October 2023, at UFC 294.

[57] On 31 May 2022, Costa was questioned by the police in the Metropolitan Region of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, regarding an incident in which he was accused of striking a nurse with his elbow during a dispute over a COVID-19 vaccination card.

She went on to say that in a measure to prevent him from leaving, she grabbed Costa by the arm and she was hit with an elbow to her face, which caused her lips to become swollen.