During a recent pre-fight media scrum, former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight title contender Paulo Costa revealed that there was no way he’d be able to hit the 186 pound limit agreed upon for his fight against Marvin Vettori due to the fact that he was weighing in at about 211 pounds two days from weigh-in day.
The writing was on the wall, apparently.
Undeterred, “Borrachina” proposed that the fight take place at an agreed-upon catchweight in order to preserve the UFC Vegas 41 main event, which is set to go down inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. And UFC officials were willing to oblige because ESPN’s Brett Okamato revealed that the promotion will proceed with the fight at catchweight of 195 pounds.
As a result of coming in heavy, Costa will forfeit 20-percent of his fight salary to Vettori.
This is the first time Costa has failed to make weight, but it’s still a bad look for the former title challenger. Win, lose, or draw, the hulking Brazilian has set himself up for criticism moving forward, so he will need a spectacular performance to at least try and win some people over.
Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC Vegas 41 fight card right here, starting with the ESPN+ “Prelims” matches, which are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. ET, then the remaining main card balance on ESPN+ at 4 p.m. ET.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC Vegas 41: “Costa vs. Vettori” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right here.