How To Watch UFC 267: ESPN+ Special Presentation From Abu Dhabi Like Costa, Vettori enters Saturday night’s contest coming off a championship loss to Adesanya, as the Italian dropped a unanimous decision to the Nigerian-born, New Zealand-based titleholder in June. “I will take the belt, defend it some times, and after that, I can think about doing another move.” “No, no - I will keep fighting at middleweight,” he said without pause when asked about a potential shift to the light heavyweight division. “I believe in myself a lot, I know my potential, my strengths, my mentality. ![]() “I don’t know, but I expect very, very good things, man. “Who knows, right?” he said with a laugh when asked about what this next chapter of his career would hold. UFC 267: A Stacked Card | Fighters Looking To Make A Three-Peat in 2021 This is the contradictory side of Costa - one that has appeared at times in the past and is front and center this week, as just a few hours after declaring he wasn’t going to make the middleweight limit and that a fight with Vettori would be more interesting if neither of them cut weight, he’s speaking about keeping his nutrition and weight on point and firm in his position that he will continue fighting at 185 pounds going forward, even though light heavyweight is right there, constantly in need of exciting new additions. “I’m making sure my nutrition, my weight, my recovery (are taken care of) and (focused on) performing very well, as I always did before I fought Adesanya.”Įxcept maybe not the weight thing, at least not this time. He doesn’t expand, but it seems like he’s drawing connections between that contest and this one, as he’s previously talked about struggling to sleep the night before his championship bout and the impact it had on him prior to stepping into the Octagon. “That fight was foretelling and I’m just making sure that won’t happen anymore.” “It hasn’t changed me,” Costa said of losing for the first time in his professional career. The duo traded jabs on social media, each promising to make quick and easy work of the other, but when the cage door closed and the action began, it was all Adesanya, as “The Last Stylebender” styled on the challenger, securing a second-round stoppage win to retain his title and bounce “Costa from the ranks of the unbeaten. RELATED VIDEOS: Top Finishes | Free Fight: Paulo Costa vs Yoel Romero After plowing through his first four opponents like an unstoppable juggernaut, the heavy-hitting Brazilian showed grit and tenacity by edging out perennial contender Yoel Romero in a Fight of the Night-winning battle at UFC 241 the previous summer, putting him at the top of the list to face Adesanya. ![]() He was undefeated, having won 13 consecutive bouts, the first dozen of those by stoppage, and the last five since arriving in the UFC. The last time Costa made the walk to the Octagon was last September at UFC 253, when he challenged Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title. On Thursday night, the combatants agreed to a 205-pound bout, keeping the main event intact and giving Costa the opportunity to compete for the first time in over a year. MORE UFC FIGHT NIGHT: Fight By Fight Preview | Rise of Marvin Vettori | Co-Main Event Preview | Marvin Vettori | SeungWoo Choi | Junyong Park | Randa Markos | Jessica-Rose Clark | Ike Villanueva “I think it’s going to be more powerful, more exciting.” “I think it’s going to be a better fight just having two guys at this weight,” he quickly added, shifting in salesman mode. “It was the travel, the lack of sleep everything together in getting here. ![]() “It was a mix of things,” Costa said on Wednesday afternoon when asked the cause for his elevated weight less than 48 hours before he is scheduled to step on the scale. He hoped the contest could be changed to a catchweight affair, deferring to his opponent to set the new threshold, and made the case for the bout being even more exciting if neither he nor Vettori are required to weigh 185 pounds for an hour or so on Friday morning. Wednesday afternoon, Costa announced at his media availability that he would not be able to make the middleweight limit ahead of his main event showdown with Marvin Vettori this weekend in Las Vegas.
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