Paulo Costa reacts following loss to Marvin Vettori, addresses UFC Vegas 41 weight debacle

Former UFC title challenger Paulo Costa has reacted after suffering a unanimous decision loss to Marvin Vettori in tonight’s UFC Vegas 41 main event.

The former middleweight title challengers, Costa and Vettori, were originally supposed to collide at their natural fighting weight of 185lbs. However, earlier in the week ‘The Eraser’ revealed he would not be able to make weight for the contest and thus the bout was moved to light heavyweight.

Both men had entered the contest in hopes of rebounding from recent losses to reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Paulo Costa was TKO’d by ‘Stylebender’ back in September of 2020, while Vettori was outpointed by Izzy this past June at UFC 263.

Tonight’s UFC Vegas 41 main event proved to be a thrilling five round war. Marvin Vettori was able to get off the better volume of strikes throughout the twenty-five minute affair, but Paulo Costa landed some big shots and made a huge push in the final five minutes. After five rounds of heart-pounding action Vettori was awarded a unanimous decision victory from the judges in attendance.

Image Credit: Screenshot UFC’s tweet.

Following the conclusion of Saturday’s event, Paulo Costa spoke with reporters at the post-fight press conference where he shared his thoughts on the loss.

“I really think I won (the fight),” Costa said. “I don’t know why the referee deducted the point (for the eye poke). I felt I was close to finishing him in the second but (Vettori) was durable.”

As for his weight debacle, which resulted in the contest being moved from 185lbs to 205lbs, Paulo Costa had the following to say.

“I don’t have any excuses. I had an injury in camp, a bicep injury, but no excuse.”

As for Dana White’s claim that he will no longer be able to fight at middleweight, Costa doesn’t seem opposed to competing at light heavyweight going forward.

“Well I don’t enjoy that life. Eating salad all day.”

Who would you like to see Paulo Costa fight in his next Octagon appearance? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!