On the evening prior to the UFC Vegas 41 weigh-in, Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori have agreed to fight at light-heavyweight.
Costa made it clear midway through fight week that he had no intention of making the middleweight limit of 185lbs. The Brazilian was 211lbs on media day and was adamant that his main event match-up against Vettori would need to take place at a catchweight.
After some back and forth, it was decided the UFC Vegas 41 main event would take place at 195lbs and that Costa would be fined 20 percent of his fight purse.
However, the fight weight has changed once again just hours before weigh-ins. Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports verified that Costa vs. Vettori will take place at light-heavyweight before announcing the news on social media.
“Just spoke to Hunter Campbell at UFC,” Iole wrote on Twitter. “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.”
Brett Okamoto of ESPN later confirmed that Costa will not face a further fine for refusing to make the agreed-upon catchweight.
“UFC officials confirm, Saturday’s main event between Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori has been changed to a 195-pound catchweight and Costa will forfeit 20 percent of his purse to Vettori,” Okamoto wrote on Twitter.
Ali Abdelaziz, who manages Vettori, was particularly irked by Team Costa who apparently found the weight issue funny. He also claimed that ‘Borrachinha’ will never be allowed to book a fight at middleweight ever again.
“I was being told he will never be allowed to fight in middleweight again,” Abdelaziz wrote on social media. “I will do my best to make his opponent last name Magomedov. This is disrespectful to the sports, the coaches, training partners, even worst his team laughing with him and think it is funny
“I thought the man was going through something personally,” Abdelaziz added. “And I was going through and he was making a joke . It pissed me off. Marvin will finish him in 4 RD tomorrow.”
Who do you think will win the UFC Vegas 41 main event? Paulo Costa or Marvin Vettori?