Perhaps the biggest story coming from UFC Vegas 41, was the last minute changes in the agreed weight for the headliners. Just days before the event, Paulo Costa vs Marvin Vettori was moved up in weight not just once, but twice, going from 185 lbs to 195 lbs and then 205 lbs.
Costa revealed the issues that caused the weight issues, saying it was an old injury that flared up again.
“My left bicep,” Costa said at the post-fight press conference. “I came in a little bit higher weight because I needed to stop some weeks of training.
“The only problem is I lost this fight, so it will look like an excuse,” he said. “I don’t have an excuse for anything. I did a good job there, Marvin as well. Congratulations to him, and to me, I think. But I had some problems to not come in here with my usual weight.”
Costa had bicep surgery in 2019. The same injury also caused him to pull out of a 2018 bout vs Uriah Hall.
The top ranked middleweight contender says he still wants to go back to 185 lbs for his next fight, but Dana White is adamant that he won’t be allowed to do that. The UFC President held firm in saying that Costa a light heavyweight now.
“We absolutely tell you where to fight when this happens. He’s going to have to fight at 205,” White said. “He’s a light heavyweight. You guys saw him tonight. He’s massive.
“He can’t make ‘85. It just goes to show you that he cannot make 185 lbs.”
Responding to a line about Costa saying 185 is his division, White made it clear that’s not going to happen.
“This is going to be fun,” White responded. “I promise you it’s not.”
After going undefeated earlier in his career, Costa is now 13-2, and has now lost two straight bouts to Vettori and current champion Israel Adesanya.
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