In the main event of UFC Vegas 41, Paulo Costa will make his return against the former title challenger, Marvin Vettori. This was a much-anticipated fight between two of the most exciting contenders in the division.
Both Vettori and Costa are coming off losses from the middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya. And this fight will have a huge impact on their future in the middleweight division.
But, there are a lot of uncertainties around this fight as Paulo Costa has confirmed that he will not fight at 185 lbs. Costa has not revealed his reasons for being unable to make the weight. But, he is certainly willing to fight Marvin Vettori at a catchweight.
Marvin Vettori, who has taken short notice fights before in his UFC career is also willing to fight Paulo Costa at a catchweight. But, he is frustrated with Costa’s unprofessional behavior during the fight week. Vettori criticized Costa for the entire situation and stated:
“He has some problems with weight I guess. I said I’ll fight him in any weight. But at the end of the day, we still all have to be professional. I mean he’s not professional. We all go through weight cuts. He has to do some of it. Last thing I want is for the fight to be scrapped… Nothing is official but I know he’s a lot overweight. We’ll have to find some solution. He should be able to do at least a little better. Worst case, I say he’s fine at 205,”.
Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa agree to fight at catchweight
Vettori and Costa appeared for an interview with Bret Okamoto and they had some exciting back and forth. But, it was Vettori who had the upper hand and ridiculed Costa for failing to make weight. Vettori even mocked Costa for his disastrous performance in his last fight and even asked if he was drinking before showing up for the interview. More importantly, both agreed to fight at 195 lbs at UFC Vegas 41.
Vettori’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz has stated that the fight was agreed to happen at 195 lbs catchweight. But, Costa’s team further requested to fight at 198 lbs. As of now, there has not been any official confirmation about the weight class where this fight is going to take place.
These last-minute changes will certainly favor Paulo Costa as he won’t be as drained going into a 5 round main event. Costa, who has always struggled in the later rounds, can put on a better performance at a higher weight class without much weight cut.
However, Marvin Vettori is not a small middleweight too. And he has been cutting weight throughout the fight camp to make the middleweight limit. Though Vettori will still be the favorite to win the fight if it happens at a catchweight credit has to be given to the Italian for accepting to fight Costa at any weight.
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