[UPDATE #2]
Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole has updated the initial report after having talks with UFC executives. He revealed Thursday night that the UFC Vegas 41 main event between Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori will not take place as a 195 catchweight after all but will instead be contested at 205 pounds (light heavyweight).
[UPDATE #1]
As originally reported by Yahoo Sports, the UFC Vegas 41 main event between Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori will now take place at the catchweight of 195 pounds, and Costa will forfeit 20% of his purse.
Yesterday, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto moderated a face-to-face interview between the two headliners, which included Vettori interrogating Costa about his weight issues. You can catch the full video below, which includes the verbal agreement to fight at 195 that preceded today’s report.
[ORIGINAL STORY PUBLISHED OCTOBER 20, 2021, 8:00 PM]
The UFC Vegas 41 headliner between Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori is in jeopardy, courtesy of a bloated Borrachinha.
Both Costa and Vettori were looking to score some redemption in this main event clash, with both men coming off of title fight setbacks, but the Brazilian, in particular, was in a complicated situation. He was looking to wash out the bad taste of not only the loss but also the fact that he chose to drink an entire bottle of wine the night before the title fight due to insomnia.
Unfortunately, this fight with Vettori is not going to be the clean return that Costa was hoping for, if the bout still happens. Speaking at the UFC Vegas 40 media day, Borrachina revealed that he was currently 211lb, roughly 48 hours before weigh-ins, and would not be able to make the 186lb limit.
“My weight right now is 96kilos (211 pounds). What happened yesterday, [my manager] Wallid [Ismail] talked with some people with him, Ali [Abdelaziz], his manager I think, and it’s not on the schedule to make 185 [pounds] anymore. It’s another weight. I’m not exactly [sure] which weight yet,” Costa said (h/t MMAFighting).
“I think this fight will happen,” Costa said. “It just will not happen if he don’t want to fight me. Maybe we can do a catchweight 195 [pounds] maybe but I think make this fight [205 pounds] could be more exciting to the fans.”
There has not been official word from the UFC or Marvin Vettori about this issue, at the time of writing. That said, a report from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto shows that Vettori’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, says that his client still wants to take the fight with Paulo Costa no matter the weight, although there have apparently been some inconsistencies regarding what Costa wants the weight to be for the fight.
“We’ve never been a team to kill main events. I haven’t talked to Paulo’s team. But Marvin will fight him at heavyweight. He’ll fight Francis Ngannou on Saturday if that’s who shows up,” Abdelaziz told Okamoto.
“But first it was 195 pounds. Then it goes to 198. I don’t know what he’s going through and I’m not going to judge him. We’re gonna fight. Marvin wants him to show up.”
Stay tuned to MMA News for updates on this as more information becomes available. In the meantime, it looks as if both Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori are interested in still having the fight, provided the UFC agrees.
