‘He’s a c**t’: UFC star Vettori in X-rated TV rant at rival Costa after pair put on ‘instant classic’ following weight-cut chaos
At the end of his victory over the Brazilian at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas, Marvin Vettori let off a foul-mouthed expletive at Paulo Costa in his post-match interview following the light-heavyweight main event.
Getting back to winning ways following a loss to Israel Adesanya for the middleweight title last time out in June, Vettori battled to a unanimous decision win after a five-round slugfest at the UFC Apex in Sin City.
In a chaotic build-up to the bout, Costa almost jeopardized the event altogether by revealing he would come in wildly overweight, with the contest being pushed back from middleweight to a 195lb catchweight bout, and then shunted even further out to the 205lb light heavyweight limit.
"You lost to the ******* scales!" ⚖️Listen in on what was said in the face-off between Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori.🎥 @UFC#UFCVegas41 | Sat 7pm | BT Sport 2 HD pic.twitter.com/8BhmBmas58
— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) October 22, 2021
Despite his lack of commitment, Costa put in a spirited performance and was particularly impressive with his body kicks and another to the head that sent Vettori reeling.
In Round 2, he also had a point deducted for an eye poke.
Vettori did enough for the win though, and took home a Performance of the Night Bonus as well as a proportion of Costa's purse as a result of the Brazilian's weigh-in antics.
Battle tested and rose to the occasion. @MarvinVettori gets the UD nod in a classic of a main event #UFCVegas41pic.twitter.com/iKAPgFQ1tI
— UFC (@ufc) October 23, 2021
Continuing the bad blood between the pair, 'The Italian Dream' called his foe "a c*nt" to former middleweight champion and pundit Michael Bisping when he asked him what he thought of Borrachina following their battle.
"This is why the UFC is unparalleled entertainment," quipped one fan.
"Highlight of the night," another called it.
"New respect for Vettori . Took the fight at 20lbs higher, massively outsized, ate some big shots, won and called him a c*nt in a live interview," gushed another fan.
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. pic.twitter.com/41iyC39KcY
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 23, 2021
Instant classic 👏🏻Marvin Vettori won me over tonight. What a tough SOB. Poker face was unbelievable throughout. True professional. Didn’t complain all week about Costa’s antics and came to fight. Congrats @MarvinVettori you monster. pic.twitter.com/rDFHywRzhQ
— Lewis Simpson (@LewisSimpsonMMA) October 23, 2021
Despite his outburst, president Dana White still heaped praise on Vettori.
"We were trying to keep this fight alive and make sure that it happened, and we couldn’t have done it without a guy like Vettori," he said during his post-fight press conference.
"Vettori acted like an absolute professional, stud, a guy that’s incredible to work with. That’s why this fight happened," he finished.
As for Costa, he now has two consecutive losses to his name and is undoubtedly in White's bad books after also pulling out of a scheduled August bout with Jared Cannonier in June over fighter pay.
