Dana White reacts to Vettori defeating Costa, says Paulo will no longer be allowed to compete at 185lbs

Dana White shared his thoughts on tonight’s UFC Vegas 41 main event between Marvin Vettori and Paulo Costa during the post-fight presser.

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 the bout was utlimately moved to light heavyweight, much to the chagrin of UFC President Dana White.

Paulo Costa (13-1 MMA) was returning to action this evening for the first time since suffering the first loss of his career, a TKO defeat to Israel Adesanya back in September of 2020. Prior to that loss, the Brazilian bomber had gone 5-0 in the UFC, with all five of those wins coming by way of knockout.

Meanwhile, Marvin Vettori (17-5-1 MMA) had last competed at June’s UFC 263 event, where he too fell short in his bid to dethrone ‘The Last Stylebender’. Prior to suffering his second career defeat to Israel Adesanya, ‘The Italian Dream’ had reeled off five straight wins inside of the Octagon, which prompted Dana White and company to give him a title shot.

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 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 much-deserved unanimous decision victory from the judges in attendance (48-46 x3).

Following the conclusion of tonight’s main event war, Dana White spoke to reporters where he shared his thoughts on the fight.

“Vettori looked awesome and he’s the only reason the main event stayed alive. I don’t know why things went the way they did with Costa, but he fought his ass off tonight. He looked better in the fifth round than he did in the first.”

The UFC President then stated that Paulo Costa would be competing at light heavyweight going forward due to this week’s weight debacle, hinting that the Brazilian saved his job with tonight’s effort.

Dana White went on to suggest that had Marvin Vettori not agreed to the fight, the penalties could have been much harsher for Paulo Costa.

“(Costa) is getting fined 20% of his purse, which is going to Vettori. Listen, had this thing not worked out the way that it did, he’d have been on a plane to Brazil with no money.”

What do you think of Dana White demanding that Paulo Costa fight at light heavyweight moving forward? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!