UFC VEGAS 16: Marvin Vettori called out Paulo Costa during his post-fight interview, but seems to have had a change of heart.
Last night Marvin Vettori made a statement in his unanimous decision victory over Jack Hermansson in the main event of UFC Vegas 16. Vettori nearly finished Hermansson in the first round, but ended up going all five rounds with his opponent in a very entertaining back-and-forth affair.
After picking up his first win over a top five ranked middleweight contender, Vettori wanted to keep his hot streak alive and called out someone else high up in the rankings. In an expletive-filled post-fight interview, Vettori said he wanted to fight No. 2 ranked Paulo Costa in his next outing. Color commentator Jon Anik was immediately on board and so was UFC President Dana White, but before Vettori made it to his post-fight press conference with assembled media, something changed.
Vettori appeared to be no longer interested in the Costa fight, after seemingly realizing ‘Borrachinha’ recently suffered a devastating knockout loss to current middleweight champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 253.
“To be honest with you, before I called out ‘Borrachinha’, but f—k ‘Borrachinha’,” said Vettori. “He just came out of a crazy loss. Why would I even fight him? I want to go straight to the title, man. I’ll be really honest, I like the fight, but I feel like top five there’s no opposition. There’s no real opposition.
“[Jared] Cannonier just lost. Darren Till is — I don’t know. I don’t even think he is top five. ‘Borrachinha just lost brutally and who else is there? Jack was No. 4. [Robert] Whittaker wants to just enjoy Christmas with his kids, which I don’t blame him, but it doesn’t seem like he really wants to fight for the title.”
Seeing the majority of the top five of the division out for one reason or another, Vettori believes he should be next in line to fight the previously mentioned Adesanya. Vettori and Adesanya have met once before several years ago at UFC on FOX: Poirier vs. Gaethje, where Vettori lost by way of split decision.
A rematch with Adesanya has been requested by Vettori on a number of occasions. And now he really wants it to happen in light of his most recent performance that will likely put him at the top of the class at 185-pounds come Monday morning.
When asked if he thought Adesanya would be receptive to a rematch soon, Vettori rebuffed any attempt of being ignored by the champion again.
“Israel is full of s—t,” said Vettori. “He was like, ‘Oh, you know, I don’t think I will ever see Marvin again, he will never make it to the title.’ Well, guess what, motherf—ker? I’m here. So, he thinks he has it all figured out. He has nothing figured out. I know his true colors. I met him a few times. I fought him. I know his true colors. I want that fight.”