Paulo Costa has admitted that he is not in shape for this weekend’s UFC main event against Marvin Vettori, putting the middleweight contest in jeopardy.
Costa claimed Wednesday that he currently weighs 211 pounds, which is 25 pounds over the non-championship middleweight limit that he is contracted to make Friday.
Because of this, Costa is hoping a deal can be reached in the coming days to move the fight to a different weight class.
“We need to find a catchweight to make. I don’t know exactly [which] yet,” said Costa at a UFC press scrum in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Costa is currently withholding why he is so over the weight limit, but he said Wednesday that he will tell people after the week concludes.
Vettori, the opponent for Costa, is aware of the current situation. Wanting to remain in Saturday’s lineup, he is willing to change the weight limit.
“The last thing I want is for the fight to be scratched. I’ll fight him at any weight. With that being said, he needs to suffer a little bit [with] making weight because all of us do that,” said Vettori to the media.
Costa has never missed weight through six previous UFC appearances. He made the championship limit of 185 pounds in his last fight, which is one pound lighter than what would be required to meet Friday.
Both fighters are looking to make their first appearance since losing a title fight.
Costa lost to UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya in September 2020, getting stopped in the second round with strikes. He has struggled to get a return bout since then, with two main event bookings earlier this year being thrown out due to his withdrawal from them.
Vettori last competed in June, going five rounds against Adesanya and losing via unanimous decision.
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