Tracy Cortez details the backstory behind viral Paulo Costa selfie

By Susan Cox - September 22, 2023

Tracy Cortez is detailing the backstory behind the viral selfie she took with UFC middleweight Paulo Costa.

Tracy Cortez, UFC

It was just last Saturday, September 16th, at Noche UFC that Tracy Cortez (11-1 MMA) defeated Jasmine Jasudavicius (9-3 MMA) in a flyweight bout.

Earlier this summer, prior to the match-up at Noche UFC, Cortez posed in a selfie with fellow UFC fighter Paulo Costa (14-2 MMA). That photo caused rumors that Cortez and Costa were in a relationship.

It was ‘Borrachinha’ who took to ‘X’ in early July saying:

“I mean me and Tracy are just friends, nothing happened, we just took a selfie for a mutual friend. Stop bullying”

Cortez, speaking on ‘The MMA Hour’ is now also addressing the photo of her with Costa saying:

“Costa goes, ‘Hey, I didn’t know you were managed by Tiki. I said, ‘Yeah, that’s my manager, let’s send him a picture.’ You can just see it, it’s like a quick, ‘alright,’ and I keep going about my day. Then Tiki texted him and they’re showing me and we’re laughing, and two weeks later I come back to the States and then Paulo posts that photo. Right? It was just like, ‘Happy Friday from Tracy and me,’ literally, and I woke up the next morning, ‘Oh my God.’”

The 29 year old further explained:

“I kind of just stayed quiet. Then Costa and his fiancee (Tamara Alves) called me, ‘Oh my God, it blew up.’ And she knows what she’s doing too, Tamara. They’re like, ‘We’ll address it.’ I go, ‘Alright, thank you. It’s funny, but you guys address it.’ And they let it run. Oh my God. Then I let it run too. It is what it is now, there’s no going back. So I didn’t address it, I didn’t care, I said I’m going to run with it too. Have some fun, have a good laugh. And that was it. That was literally it, that was the backstory. A picture from a manager and that was it.”

So there you have it, it was a runaway train.

Continuing, Tracy Cortez spoke of Paulo Costa saying (h/t MMAFighting):

“He’s just funny. He doesn’t take it serious, he doesn’t take social media serious, it’s all laughs. I mean, I think people knew (the truth), the fans knew. Nevertheless, who doesn’t love to troll?”

Concluding Cortez said:

“It’s just one of those things where everything from here on out it is just lessons, trials, and tribulations. What I like, what I don’t like, what I’ll do again, what I won’t do again. It’s one of those things where I noticed where if there’s a photo of me, it might go viral. Why? I don’t know. Just a simple selfie, it went viral.”

“Me, I am a very private person. I have a very small circle that I consider friends. So anything personal life, I think I’ll just stay to myself from now on. Lesson learned.”

Were you one of the fans to jump on the Cortez and Costa bandwagon or do you too take social media with a grain of salt?

Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!


Topics:

Tracy Cortez UFC