FIGHT REVIEW: UFC FIGHT NIGHT: Vettori vs Costa

Vettori defeats Costa after 5 round war



This past weekend was the culmination of a very unique fight, courtesy of Marvin Vettori and (primarily) Paulo Costa. Everyone in the MMA community knows what took place and how the fight wound up becoming a LHW bout. What we've been waiting for is the fight itself and it surely lived up to the hype.

Vettori did what he does best: applied constant pressure, had Costa backing up majority of the time, and demonstrated well-rounded boxing. What was not too surprising to see be absent was grappling. We did see some in the 5th when Vettori was in trouble, but aside from that, this fight was a glorified kickboxing match. Costa was around 220 in the octagon, and Vettori even said he didn't realize how big Costa was until one of his initial clinches. Not that I think it would have made a critical difference, but I think this demonstrates Vettori's confidence in his continually refined fundamentals in the standup. Marvin's probably gonna be on the shelf a bit because the top of MW is pretty busy, but he is in the conversation with whoever loses between Brunson-Cannonier.

Costa was an absolute unit. It baffles me he has had a whole career at 185, but that's besides the point. I think with a different approach, Costa could have ripped through Vettori's body. The 5th round showed just how much power and energy Costa retained throughout, even when he looked gassed after 2-3 rounds. As much as he rubbed folks the wrong way, he showed he's capable of doing a lot of damage and has a leg up on a fair amount of MW and LHW fighters. I think he should be moving up for sure. A good fight there would be 6 (Reyes), 7 (Ankalaev), or 8 (Oezdemir). That would put a fair pin in where he stands in that division and theoretically, if he won two LHW fights, he could fight for the title. I hope he does that so we can see that division get a little more star power.

This fight is not fight of the year, but it may be one of the better Fight Nights we have had. There are a couple bangers left down the stretch and they probably will prove to be just that (Holloway/Yair!!!) but this last one was a personal favorite of the year.

* Edited at 10.25.2021, 2:31 PM ET *

Good fight good review costa is better than I thought but marv is much better and tougher.
He is too measured he needs to train with gane or another master class striker.