Daniel Cormier doesn’t think Paulo Costa should’ve had a point taken away from him against Marvin Vettori.
In the main event of UFC Vegas 41, Costa and Vettori headlined the card at light heavyweight. It was a back-and-forth fight but in the second round, Costa poked Vettori in the eye and referee, Jason Herzog took a point from the Brazilian.
Herzog claimed he warned Costa multiple times for extending his fingers so he took a point. For Cormier, who has poked a fair share of opponents, he doesn’t think Costa should’ve had a point deducted for him.
“Now, here’s the thing. The poke in the eye, I get it. But, when he got a point deducted, I thought to myself that Jason Herzog has been watching these headlines. Jason Herzog has been watching and paying attention to the story that’s going around this fight because everybody hates Costa… he’s like, playing the bad guy, all week,” Cormier said on his YouTuber channel (via Sportskeeda). “But when he took the point after one eye poke that really didn’t look intentional to me, it told me that Herzog has been kind of following the headlines and he allowed for that emotion of Costa being the bad guy to make him go a little bit too fast.”
Although Cormier disagrees with Herzog taking the point, in the end, the point deduction didn’t play a factor. Vettori clearly won a decision and the loss of the point didn’t impact the result. However, as Cormier says, the point deduction felt early to many and could set a bad precedent from Herzog.
With the loss, Paulo Costa is now on a two-fight losing streak and Dana White announced the Brazilian would have to move to light heavyweight. When he will return is uncertain, but his next fight could be a must-win if he wants to remain a contender.
Do you agree with Daniel Cormier that Paulo Costa shouldn’t have been deducted a point?
