Paulo Costa is not planning to apologize to Marvin Vettori for not making weight for their middleweight bout. Both men were scheduled to fight at 185 pounds at UFC Fight Night 196, but because of Costa not making weight, the bout was shifted to light heavyweight.
The Brazilian fighter received a lot of criticism because of his antics. However, Costa believes that it was a fair fight and is not going to apologize to his opponent.
In the post-fight press conference, he said, “No way (I will apologize). Of course not. I came here, and the UFC suggested to fight on catchweight or 205, and just said yes, let’s go, I don’t care for weight. This is a fair fight. Both guys did weight at the same day, at the same limit. So, it can’t be more fair than that.”
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Both men went to war when they faced each other in the main event. It was a brutal fight, in which Vettori came out on top and won the fight via a unanimous decision.
ALSO READ – Paulo Costa Reveals the Real Reason Why He Weighed in at 205-Pounds to Face Marvin Vettori
Paulo Costa’s struggle with the weight cut
‘Borrachinha‘ was scheduled to fight ‘The Italian Dream’ in a middleweight bout at UFC Fight Night 196. However, three days before the fight, on the media day, he said that he won’t be able to make weight.
According to him, he weighed 211 pounds at the time he made the announcement. Both fighters during an interview verbally agreed to fight at 195 pounds catchweight, and UFC later made it official. Cutting down to 195 also seemed like an impossible task for Costa, forcing the UFC to make it a light heavyweight bout.
He received a lot of flak for this, and Vettori’s manager even suggested that he was doing it on purpose. According to Ali Abdelaziz, “I wasn’t gonna say nothing, but he is making fun of weight cut. He is doing everything to make UFC to cut him and cancel the fight. But this is not gonna happen.”
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I wasn’t gonna say nothing but he is making fun of weight cut. He is doing everything to make ufc to cut him and cancel the fight. But this is not gonna happen https://t.co/jKiKuuVPDx
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) October 22, 2021
Since Costa could not make weight, he had to give up 30 percent of his fight purse to Marvin Vettori.
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What did you guys make of the fight? Do you think Paulo Costa should apologize to Marvin Vettori? Let us know in the comments!
WATCH THIS STORY – Event Recap: Best Fights From UFC Fight Night: Costa vs. Vettori