Dana White says Paulo Costa "was a nightmare to deal with" but the UFC won't punish him for missing weight
Dana White feels Paulo Costa doesn't need to be punished for failing to make weight for his recently concluded fight against Marvin Vettori. At a press conference following Saturday night's UFC Vegas 41 event, White said that Costa had already conceded 20 percent of his fight purse to Vettori for failing to make weight.
White also said that had Vettori not agreed to fight at light heavyweight, Costa would have been put on a plane to Brazil and "wouldn't have made a dime" for the fight.
"I think that you know he's getting fined 20 percent of his purse that's going to go to Vettori and had this thing not worked out the way that it did, he'd have been on a plane to Brazil with no money. He'd be put back on a plane, flew back to Brazil and wouldn't have made a dime on this fight. When you talk about prize fighters that are getting money to actually get in and perform, when they perform, he had to give up 20 percent of that, so I think that's punishment enough plus you guys beat him up pretty good too and deservedly so. I don't know why he came here and did what he did and acted the way that he acted. Like I said to John, he was going to tell you guys after the fight... When you talk about punishing him, like I said, he's given up 20 percent of his purse and he came in and fought his a** off tonight."
White also hailed Paulo Costa for performing brilliantly on the night and said it may have saved him from being punished further.
"If he went in there and put on a horrible performance and you know, then maybe we could point a finger at him more. He was a nightmare to deal with this week not just for us but for you guys too but he came in and performed tonight," White said.
Check out Dana White's interview below:
After an embarrassing fight week, Paulo Costa brought his A-game at UFC Fight Night 196
Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori went to war in the main event of UFC Vegas 41. The fight, which was set to take place at middleweight, was incredibly changed to light heavyweight at the last minute.
The change happened after Costa admitted to not being able to make the middleweight limit. He even failed to make weight for a catchweight bout at 195lbs.
Nah something definitely wrong with Costa 😭 https://t.co/sKHEKYiTCQ
While he may have attracted criticism throughout fight week, 'The Eraser' certainly showed up on fight night.
Paulo Costa and Vettori went back-and-forth for the entirety of their five-round contest. Vettori won the fight via unanimous decision, but Costa was showered with praise for his performance on the night.
Marvin Vettori (190) and Paulo Costa (163) combined for 353 significant strikes landed, the 4th largest count in UFC history and the largest count ever not featuring Max Holloway, per UFC Stats. https://t.co/41iyC39KcY