Costa Can’t Make Weight, Not Even Close

Paulo Costa vs. Marvin Vettori will be a catchweight at UFC Vegas 41, if the fight happens at all.

Paulo Costa vs. Marvin Vettori will not be a middleweight fight, assuming the UFC Vegas 41 headliner stays intact.

Costa (13-1) confirmed that he cannot make the 186-pound limit for a middleweight fight on Saturday, an issue first highlighted by his opponent, Vettori (17-4-1). The top-ranked middleweight is confident the fight will move forward, just at a catchweight. UFC Vegas 41 is scheduled to take place on Sat., Oct. 23 at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nev. via ESPN+.

“My weight right now is 96kilos (or 211 pounds),” Costa said during the UFC Vegas 41 media day (h/t MMA Fighting). “What happened yesterday, [my manager] Wallid [Ismail] talked with some people with him, Ali [Abdelaziz], his manager I think, and it’s not on the schedule to make 185 [pounds] anymore. It’s another weight. I’m not exactly [sure] which weight yet.

“I think this fight will happen,” Costa said. “It just will not happen if he don’t want to fight me. Maybe we can do a catchweight 195 [pounds] maybe but I think make this fight [205 pounds] could be more exciting to the fans.”

Ismail expressed confidence that a compromise would be made.

“We’re going to finalize the deal, how it’s going to work, the catchweight, but let me arrive there,” Ismail told Helwani on Wednesday’s episode of The MMA Hour. “But the most important now is [Costa] needs to give his best to show the world what he’s about. We cannot talk much, just the time of the fight. It’s going to be a catchweight, this is for sure.”

Costa (No. 2) and Vettori (No. 5) are both coming off losses to UFC Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

---

Finished reading this story? The party doesn’t have to stop. Click here to get more of the latest UFC and MMA news.