UFC Vegas 41 went down yesterday (Sat., Oct. 23, 2021) from inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. In the main event of the evening, Marvin Vettori defeated Paulo Costa via unanimous decision after five rounds of action (see it again here). In the co-headlining act, Grant Dawson and Rick Glenn fought to a majority draw.
Biggest Winner: Marvin Vettori
Throughout the whole ugly weight drama that Paulo Costa put UFC and Vettori through, “The Italian Dream” stayed calm and handled everything like a pro. Sure, he fired some shots over at Costa, but those were warranted and, if he chose to, could have gone full throttle with his verbal venom at the hulking Brazilian and it would’ve been warranted. Instead, he kept his cool and when fight night rolled around he delivered and took home the win. While he won’t get into a title shot straight away, it has to feel good for Vettori to get back in the win column, silence Costa all while taking home 20-precent of his purse. To top it off he also went home with a $50,000 post-fight bonus award. Not a bad night and week for “The Italian Dream.”
Runner Up: Alex Caceres
Caceres took a huge illegal knee to the face in the first round from Seung Woo Choi, resulting in a point deduction. After taking the time to recover from the hard shot, Caceres came back with a vengeance and wound up submitting Choi — who had won three in a row — with a rear-naked choke in what was truly a great comeback victory. That is now five straight wins from Caceres who could find himself in the Top 15 following his latest, highly-impressive win. There was a lot of hype for Caceres when he first stepped foot in the Octagon nine years ago but he never really got much going. Fast forward to present day and “Bruce Leeroy” finds himself with the longest win streak of his career.
Biggest Loser: Paulo Costa
Naturally this spot has to go to Costa because the man simply had a terrible week after shamelessly coming in heavy, blaming it in on a bicep injury. What a bicep has to do with cutting weight is beyond me, but that’s his story and he is sticking to it. Through it all, UFC and Vettori gave him what he wanted, ultimately resulting a Light Heavyweight fight. While he did have some shining moments come fight night, he looked gassed half of the time and ultimately wound up on the wrong end of the judges scorecards. He has now lost two straight and his dreams of capturing the Middleweight title are gone for good. And it has nothing to do with his losing streak because Dana White has stated he will now have to fight at 205 pounds moving forward.
For complete UFC Vegas 41 results and coverage click here.