This past Saturday at UFC Vegas 41, we saw a showdown between former title challengers Marvin Vettori (18-5-1) and Paulo Costa (13-2). The fight was supposed to take place at middleweight, but a last minute change saw the fight take place at 205 pounds.
Paulo Costa shocked everyone last week when he said he wouldn’t make weight for UFC Vegas 41. The news caught the UFC off-guard and they were forced to scramble to make the fight happen. Two bout agreements later and they landed on light heavyweight.
Regardless of the outcome of the fight, Paulo Costa was going to come away a loser in the eyes of many in the UFC. He signed to fight at middleweight and then proceeded to agree to a catchweight at 195. After that, he came back and said he couldn’t even do that.
All of this comes on the heels of Costa’s awful performance against Israel Adesanya at UFC 253. Costa blamed his terrible performance on the wine that he had drank the night before to assist him with getting some sleep.
After this round of excuses, Costa agreed to fight Jared Cannonier in August. However, he backed out stating the UFC wasn’t paying him enough. Ultimately, the promotion worked out a deal to have him fight Vettori and then he pulled this on fight week.
What’s next after UFC Vegas 41?
Paulo Costa has not done himself any favors with the UFC in the last 12 months. Prior to UFC 253, he was liked by the promotion and there were no issues in dealing with him. Now, he’s become a headache and major pain to the UFC and Dana White.
Costa lost the fight on Saturday to Vettori and afterwards, Dana White said that Costa will no longer fight at middleweight. From now on, Costa will not be given any contracts at middleweight and the promotion is adding him to light heavyweight.
So, now that Costa has to move up, who should the UFC pair him with? Well, there’s actually a countryman of his that I think would make for the perfect fight. I like the idea of Costa fighting Johnny Walker (18-6) at light heavyweight.
When on, these two have incredibly exciting styles that compliment each other. This would be a great fight for both men and it would generate a lot of fan interest. Perhaps, this could be the first step in mending the relationship between Costa and the UFC.