Marvin Vettori, UFC Vegas 23 weigh-in results - Vettori vs. Holland (UFC on ABC 2)

Marvin Vettori still confident he will be first Italian UFC champion following win over Paulo Costa

UFC middleweight contender Marvin Vettori remains confident he will be the first Italian UFC champion following his win over Paulo Costa.

Vettori won a unanimous decision over Costa in the main event of UFC Vegas 41 in what was a light heavyweight contest. Vettori, of course, typically fights at middleweight, but he was forced up a weight class when Costa showed up to fight week heavy. Regardless of the weight, Vettori showed that he was the better fighter as he won a unanimous decision over Costa in a back-and-forth slugfest. It was a huge win for “The Italian Dream,” who ironically took Costa’s No. 2 ranking at 185lbs despite the fight between these middleweights taking place at 205lbs.

Back in June, Vettori had the chance to make history when he fought UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya for the strap and failed in his bid to become the first world champion from Italy in MMA. Considering that Vettori has already lost twice to Adesanya and he is still the champion, it is fair to say that he will have to do a lot in order to get back to the title shot. But Vettori remains confident he will be the first UFC champion from Italy despite the obstacles.

Taking to his social media following his win over Costa, Vettori reacted to his big win, telling the fans that he still has all the belief in himself that he will one day be a world champion in the UFC.

No matter the obstacles, if I’m ready and the whole team is behind we are not gonna back down. I was born to fight and I’m honored to represent a whole country and the place that I come from, I’m the best and like I’ve been saying I’m gonna be the first Italian UFC Champion. I wanna thank @kingsmma_hb @beneildariush @julian_chua @romulobarral @mjmollica @chaseyourdreams247 @drcapodaglio and all the fans #theitaliandream

Do you think Marvin Vettori will reach his goal of becoming the first UFC champion from Italy?

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Adam Martin
MMA journalist, podcast host, and handicapper for MyMMANews.com, MMAoddsbreaker.com, and Bookies.com. MMAOB Daily Podcast host. Join me LIVE @ 5 pm EST every Monday for my live free podcast. Over 10 years of experience writing about MMA. I love this sport.