Schnell glove – Matt Schnell says his “retirement” glove laydown after an abrupt loss in September 2024 still sits wrong with him—especially after Alessandro Costa’s withdrawal derailed the original matchup. Now, Schnell faces Costa again at UFC Fight Night 278 after another
LAS VEGAS — Matt Schnell didn’t leave the cage with a neat story.
After his fight slipped away early in the second round in September 2024, he took his gloves off and left them in the center of the cage. It’s the kind of gesture fans recognize instantly: a fighter may be signaling that the fight is over, and the next chapter is done.
Schnell, now 36, says that moment wasn’t calm. It was a pitch of emotion—rage, fear, and uncertainty all tangled together in real time—and he’s still looking back at it like a mistake he wishes he could undo.
He was supposed to fight Alessandro Costa in a flyweight bout in September 2024. Costa pulled out. Schnell fought Cody Durden instead on short notice, and the result was a submission loss early in the second round. When Schnell laid the gloves down afterward, he thought it might be the end.
“I think I just pitched a fit there in that moment. and I also thought the UFC was going to cut me. ” Schnell told MMA Junkie and other media members Wednesday ahead of UFC Fight Night 278. “Hunter (Campbell) met me in the back. and I’ve got a great relationship with Mick Maynard. but I don’t want to leverage that type of thing. I thought it might be my last one. so I figured get ahead of it a little bit and just retire. (Then I could say) I didn’t get cut – I retired.”.
“But now we’re back,” he continued. “Not my best moment, if I’m being honest – an emotional moment, one where, if I could take it back, I would have. But it is what it is.”
That September derailment still matters because it led to a new fight, and it changed the rhythm of his career at the exact moment he thought the runway was closing. The glove laydown wasn’t just a mood—it was tied to the uncertainty of what comes next.
Now, he’s getting another shot at Costa after yet another opponent change. The flyweights will close out the UFC Fight Night 278 (Paramount+) prelims at the Meta APEX in Las Vegas. Costa is more than a 4-1 betting favorite in the fight. a line similar to what it was when the matchup was first booked in 2024.
Schnell’s opponent arrived through absence again: Imanol Rodriguez pulled out, leaving Costa as the man on the other side.
“It’s unfortunate that the fight with Imanol fell apart,” Schnell said. “I’m not that mad at it, though, to be perfectly honest. I’m good about it. Alessandro Costa is a former foe, somebody that we had prepared for in the past, so it just felt like let’s just rock with it.”
He acknowledged that Rodriguez—along with Costa—wasn’t an easy swap, but he framed the decision in terms of career math.
“Both (Rodriguez and Alessandro are) tough draws, but that’s where we are,” Schnell said. “We just have to understand where we are in our career – when is the time to push forward and make a tough call. So it is what it is: Alessandro Costa is up. Let’s go.”
For Schnell, the stakes feel sharper because the recent stretch hasn’t gone his way. He has dropped four of his past five fights. He’s been in the UFC for 10 years. after starting in the promotion on Season 24 of “The Ultimate Fighter”—the edition of the series that featured flyweight champions from other promotions around the world. He later became LFA champ at 125 pounds in 2016.
He walks into this fight with a conflicted memory of what he did after losing in September 2024—and with a chance to settle the version of the story he wishes he never had to abandon. On paper, the matchup is familiar. In his head, the cage still holds the moment he chose to leave his gloves behind.
Matt Schnell Alessandro Costa Cody Durden Imanol Rodriguez UFC Fight Night 278 flyweight Meta APEX Las Vegas The Ultimate Fighter LFA