Chael Sonnen is fully expecting Paulo Costa to miss weight for his pending fight with Luke Rockhold.
Sonnen recently took to his podcast to discuss the matchup and talked about Costa missing weight for his last fight at 185 pounds. The jury seems to be out on the Brazilian, with many believing he should jump up to 205 pounds for his future fights.
Add Sonnen to that list, who flat out said he’s expecting Costa to miss weight for a middleweight clash with Rockhold. The only question now is how much of a miss Rockhold is willing to allow before still deciding to go through with the fight.
“What is the number that Luke is willing to go through with this anyway?” Sonnen asked. “Because Paulo can’t make weight. Paulo is not going to make weight.
“I’m not looking into some crystal ball here. We know as human beings we get smaller with time. We know about the work ethic and the training of Paulo Costa.
“We know that Chael personally has made a very loud and boystrous push to get Paulo out of that division completely and just get a fresh coat of paint, a new start at 205 pounds.
“If I’m wrong and he pulls down to 185, I’ll eat my words, but I’m very comfortable in telling you guys that’s not going to happen.”
“The oddsmakers, if they were going to set a line, would back what I’m saying, he’s going to miss weight. So how much of a miss still gives Luke to say, ‘To hell with it, let’s go on and do it?’”
Costa is currently riding a two-fight losing streak at the moment. The losses have been the first and only ones of his career. The first came in his middleweight title shot against Israel Adesanya in 2020.
“Stylebender” finished Costa in the second round of their meeting via TKO. In his return fight against Marvin Vettori this past October, Costa came up short on the wrong end of a unanimous decision.
A potential win over a former champion in Rockhold could be exactly what he needs to get back on track. As for Rockhold, the 37-year-old is also on a two-fight losing streak, suffering back-to-back knockout losses against the likes of Yoel Romero and Jan Blachowicz.
Should he pull off a big win over a young contender like Costa, Rockhold could find himself back in the title hunt sooner than expected.
What do you think about Chael Sonnen saying he’s expecting Costa to miss weight against Rockhold? Let us know in the comments!
Continue Reading Sonnen: What Will Rockhold Do When, Not If, Costa Misses Weight? at MMA News.