Matchmaker Monday following UFC Vegas 41
UFC Vegas 41 featured a main event with major impact on the middleweight division. We’ll it was supposed, but Paulo Costa came into fight week too heavy and his matchup with Marvin Vettori ended up taking place at light heavyweight.
In the battle between two former title challengers, Vettori was able to outpace Costa on way to a unanimous decision win.
That win keeps Vettori in the mix of things at 185 pounds. Meanwhile, Costa, who not only lost, but couldn’t make the middleweight limit, is going to have to take a look at his future game plan. Let’s break down their next moves on this edition of Matchmaker Monday.
Marvin Vettori
Next: loser of Jared Cannonier and Derek Brunson
Wildcard: Robert Whittaker
After his win at UFC Vegas 41, Vettori keeps himself in title contention at middleweight. His big problem at middleweight is that the current champion Israel Adesanya has two wins over him.
Adesanya and Robert Whittaker appear to be on collision course for February, but that fight is not official just yet. If Adesanya, wins then his next fight will come against the winner of Jared Cannonier and Derek Brunson.
That leaves a few moves for Vettori. The likely one that jumps out is the loser of the title Cannonier and Brunson.
Of course a few outcomes can change that. If Whittaker beats Adesanya, then Vettori will get the winner of Cannonier and Brunson as Adesanya and Whittaker will rematch.
If Whittaker loses he also makes sense of Vettori for a number of reasons.
Finally, Vettori is a big guy and can easily fight at 205 pounds. While he is most likely going to stay at middleweight, never rule out a big time bout at light heavyweight if the opportunity presents itself. MMA is a crazy sport and Vettori is a gamer who will fight anywhere, anytime and at any weight class.
Paulo Costa
Next: move to light heavyweight
Costa having his middleweight fight moved to light heavyweight on fight week is not a good look for him.
Given his size and now a bad run in with the scales, a move to light heavyweight makes sense.
At middleweight, Costa is not only going being cutting a lot of weight, but after back-to-back losses, he’s really going to have to climb his way back into things.
At light heavyweight, not only will Costa not have to battle the scale, but he also becomes a fresh face in a new division.
Given Costa’s success at middleweight, he can walk right into a big fight at 205 pounds. Anyone in the top 15 is an option for Costa depending on when he wants to fight again.
