The MMA Daily

This is a fun fight, and one that I’m interested to see where both are at mentally. Paulo Costa blamed his title defeat to drinking the night before the fight. A bizarre thing to do and say, but Costa maintains that excuse. In my opinion, Costa is simply too big for Middleweight and the cut down most likely drained him to the point of diminishing returns. Then there is Marvin Vettori, who has fought Israel Adesanya twice. The first being a split decision and a fight that could have been awarded to Vettori. However, the second fight was not even close. Vettori’s coaches in the fight even told him such, but after the fight and even still, Vettori believes he was robbed again. Regardless these two make for an enticing fight. Costa is a striker who uses pressure and high output to swarm you. Having surprisingly good cardio and pretty good power, Costa has often broken opponents. Vettori however is the more well rounded fighter. Having solid striking and wrestling abilities, along with excellent durability, Vettori is stylistically a tough fight for the majority of Middleweights.

As for a prediction, I have Vettori. I believe that Costa is killing himself to get down to 185 pounds. In doing so, it leaves him extremely compromised. Throw in the fact that Vettori is well rounded and could very well neutralize the Brazilian via wrestling alone. In my opinion, I believe Costa made a huge error here. Sometimes you have to let go of things and move up. Look at Dustin Poirier. He failed at Featherweight, moved up and is one of, if not the best Lightweight on the planet. I guess we shall see, but the fact of the matter is, I have Vettori winning. Let’s say via late TKO.