Dana White on potential Marvin Vettori vs. Paulo Costa matchup: “Love it”

By Adam Martin - December 6, 2020

UFC president Dana White said that he would “love” to watch a potential middleweight bout between Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa.

Dana White

Vettori picked up the biggest win of his UFC career to date on Saturday night when he won a unanimous decision over Jack Hermansson in a “Fight of the Night” war between two of the best middleweights in the world. With the win, Vettori figures to take Hermansson’s spot at No. 4 in the UFC rankings. As for Costa, despite a TKO loss to Israel Adesanya in their title fight at UFC 254, he is ranked No. 2 right now.

Following his win over Hermansson, Vettori used his post-fight interview as an opportunity to call Costa out, and that’s a fight that makes a lot of sense based on the rankings. With both men looking to earn a rematch with Adesanya for the UFC middleweight title, it makes sense that Vettori takes on Costa in what would be a very intriguing matchup. Following UFC Vegas 16, White was asked by the media what he thought about Vettori vs. Costa, and the UFC president said he loves it.

“I love that fight. Love it,” White said.

However, the UFC bossman cautioned against saying this fight is anywhere close to being booked. Although White said he adores the matchup, he is always quick to tell the media that the UFC doesn’t book fights at the post-fight press conference. In this case, the UFC matchmakers will likely have a meeting in the next few weeks about what to do with both Vettori and Costa. Matching them up seems likely, but ultimately, White said he doesn’t know how any future negotiations will play out.

“I don’t know. Like you said, we’ll see. But yeah, I love that fight, too,” White said.

Do you want to see Dana White and the UFC book Marvin Vettori vs. Paulo Costa?