Vettori defeats Costa in UFC Vegas 41

MANILA, Philippines — The main event of UFC Vegas 41 on Sunday saw Italian Marvin Vettori claim a unanimous five-round decision over Brazilian Paulo Costa over Premier Sports and Tap Go.

In a slugfest that is sure to swing some fans over for Vettori, who took quite a beating from Costa in the fifth round, the match had some disconnect.

Both fighters are in the top six of the UFC’s middleweight standings, but when Costa arrived at camp weighing in at 220 pounds, the fight – even with Vettori, trained by Filipino-American Julian Chua, only at 185 pounds – was bumped up to a light heavyweight match.

The Italian though came out and peppered the Brazilian with a lot of head strikes.

If Costa’s camp had hoped to bank on the usual hotheadedness of Vettori, that part of the game plan didn’t work as the latter – in an interview with Philstar.com earlier in the week -- promised that Filipino and international fight fans would see a different side of him.

Vettori fought a disciplined fight, refusing to let his emotions get the best of him in a must-win match as both fighters were coming off losses to middleweight champion Israel Adesanya.

Vettori scored 81% of his head shots to the 50% of Costa, who had more leg shots, 41% to 17% and 8% more kicks than the paltry 1% of the former.
Unfortunately for the Brazilian, the Italian took the first four rounds. That meant he needed a knockout or a submission in the fifth round.

Vettori though had more heart even if visibly gassed with his hands dropping terribly in their guard and Costa raining leg kicks and body shots.

Incredibly, Vettori remained standing despite the barrage of punishment he absorbed. He did though land some strikes and on several occasions tried to take down the former to no avail. And in the end, Costa was forced to the fence by Vettori as he looked helplessly on as the final seconds of the fight passed.

To make matters worse and part of the disconnect for Costa, he was deducted 20% of his earnings as he fought at a catch weight.

By fight’s end, UFC’s Dana White proclaimed that from hereon, Costa would fight at light heavyweight – the Brazilian agreed but not his manager who believes he can maintain his 185-pound middleweight class.

Things weren’t done for Costa who refused Vettori’s post-fight handshake and had to endure one last strike from Vettori, “I get to buy myself another watch with his money (in reference to his 20% purse fine).”

Vettori improved to 18-4-1 (8-3-1 UFC) while Costa dropped to 13-2 (5-2 in UFC combat).

Premier Sports and Tap Go will show the much-anticipated UFC 267 on Sunday, October 31. Light heavyweight Jan Blachowicz puts his title on the line against Glover Teixeira.