Credit:Joao Baptista
Credit:Joao Baptista
Credit:Joao Baptista
Once it became clear that he wasn’t going to make the middleweight
limit, Paulo Costa
did everything he could to tilt the odds in his favor heading into
the UFC Fight Night 196 main event.
Even though he convinced opponent Marvin
Vettori to agree to fight at 205 pounds and he was clearly the
larger athlete in the Octagon on Saturday, Costa still dropped a
unanimous decision to “The Italian Dream.” As result, UFC president
Dana White was singing Vettori’s praises at Saturday’s post-fight
press conference.
“We were trying to keep this fight alive and make sure that it
happened, and we couldn’t have done it without a guy like Vettori,”
White said. “Vettori acted like an absolute professional, stud, a
guy that’s incredible to work with. That’s why this fight
happened.”
According to White, Costa entered the cage at the UFC Apex in Las
Vegas on Saturday night at 220 pounds, while Vettori weighed 208.
Despite the visible size difference, Vettori set a light
heavyweight record with 190 significant strikes landed in his
victory. And that was against a game opponent who kept attacking
until the final horn of the fifth round.
“Again, you have to give all the credit to Vettori,” White said.
“He was willing to fight at any weight and didn’t let this stuff
mess with his head. At the end of the day, it’s all about the
fight. They both fought their ass off. Costa looked better in the
fifth round than he did in the first round, so he was definitely in
shape. When a guy comes in that heavy, you have to question whether
he’s in shape or not. He was in shape.”
Costa revealed after the bout that a left bicep injury prevented
him from properly training and cutting weight heading into his
matchup with Vettori.
”“The only problem is I lost this fight, so it will look like an
excuse,” Costa said. “I don’t have an excuse for anything. I did a
good job there — Marvin as well. “Congratulations to him, and to
me, I think. But I had some problems to not come in here with my
usual weight.”
Despite those issues, Costa wasn’t especially remorseful about
making his opponent agree to a change in weight on the week of
their fight.
“No, no, no way,” he said. “I came here and the UFC suggested to
fight at a catchweight or 205, and I just said yes, let’s go. I
don’t care for weight. This is a fair fight. Both guys made weight
on the same day at the same limit, so what could be more fair than
that?”
While Costa may have been fine with how things turned out, the
transgression could ultimately cost him if he still has designs on
capturing championship gold at 185 pounds because it appears that
his future could be at light heavyweight.
“We absolutely tell you where to fight when this happens,” White
said. “He’s gonna have to fight at 205.”