It’s been a wild ride for Paulo Costa since his loss to Israel Adesanya in September 2020.
Midway through UFC Vegas 41 fight week, the 30-year old Brazilian made it clear that he wasn’t going to make the 185-pound middleweight limit for Saturday’s main event opposite Marvin Vettori. Thus leading to the bout’s move to a 195-pound catchweight.
However, the bout’s weight has once again changed with weigh-ins just hours away.
Just spoke to Hunter Campbell at UFC. The Costa-Vettori fioght is now at 205 pounds. Both fighters have signed deals to fight at that weight. It’s getting ridiculous, but this is Paulo Costa, ladies and gentlemen. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.
advertisement – continue reading below advertisement – continue reading below— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) October 22, 2021
“Just spoke to Hunter Campbell at UFC,” Tweeted Kevin Iole. “The Costa-Vettori fioght is now at 205 pounds. Both fighters have signed deals to fight at that weight. It’s getting ridiculous, but this is Paulo Costa, ladies and gentlemen. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible.”
Paulo Costa was originally fined 20 percent of his purse for the fight being bumped to 195-pounds. ESPN’s Brett Okamoto has confirmed that the fine will remain in place.
“Borrachinha” Last fought in his lone UFC middleweight title bout when challenging Israel Adesanya at UFC 253. Heading in with a perfect 13-0 record, Costa left with his first defeat after putting up little to no resistance toward the champion.
Since then, Costa has been booked against Robert Whittaker but withdrew from the bout due to claiming it was never made official as he was hoping to renegotiate for a better deal.
Vettori, on the other hand, also saw his last time out resulted in Adesanya’s hand being raised when the two rematched in UFC 263’s headliner in June.