This October middleweight title challengers Paulo Costa (#2) and Marvin Vettori (#5) will face off in a bid to get another shot against current division champion, Israel Adesanya (aka “The Last Stylebender”). Both fighters recently lost to the Stylebender and vowed to come back with a vengeance. Which of the two will get closer to the belt, and bump off the other?
Costa will enter this fight after a year since losing to Adesanya. During this match he was finished off with strikes by the champion in Round 2. The #2 contender claims that his loss was due to drinking too much wine the night before his fight. Recently he also shared bitter words on social media about UFC’s pay scale.
Aside from the drama, Costa previously held a strong five-fight win streak and defeated the likes of Yoel Romero, Uriah Hall and Johnny Hendricks. Impressively he won four out of five fights by KO/TKO. Earlier this year he was also booked to face off with Robert Whittaker, but withdrew due to injury.
Can Costa come back with a win, or will his ego get the better of him?
Meanwhile, Vettori is also looking to snag a win after being defeated by Israel Adesanya. This loss was a blow to his previously unblemished record that saw him hold a five-fight streak, during which he defeated opponents such as Jacare Souza, Charlie Ontiveros and Joaquin Buckley.The Italian fighter is currently ranked #5 and will no doubt look to pull all stops to get in the top three.
Will Vettori defeat Costa?
TBC for co-headline fights.