Paulo Costa demands "scales off" championship fight at middleweight

Paulo Costa drew quite a bit of criticism last year in the lead-up to his fight against Marvin Vettori, largely thanks to his nonchalant attitude with regard to his weight cut. Since then, the Brazilian has joked about his weight on numerous occasions on social media and recently proposed a bizarre idea.

On Twitter, Costa seemingly called for a middleweight championship bout with no weight limit.

"I want a fight on no weight middleweight division fair championship. Scales off. Let’s go your motherf*****s"

Paulo Costa clearly irritated the UFC brass in October last year when his management requested that the weight limit for his bout with Marvin Vettori be changed not once, but twice. After initially stating that he can't make 185 lbs, a 195 lbs catchweight bout was proposed. Soon after, the weight limit was moved up to 205 lbs upon Costa's request.

Nevertheless, Vettori came away with a narrow unanimous decision victory to return to the win column, just a few months after his loss to the champion, Israel Adesanya. Notably, Costa was deducted a point for an eye-poke in the second round.

Costa has jibed at himself on occasion since the aforementioned debacle. He recently asked lightweight sensation Paddy 'The Baddy' Pimblett for advice on how to cut weight. Pimblett, like Costa, tends to balloon up outside fight camps.

---

Paulo Costa wants to run it back with Marvin Vettori at middleweight

Paulo Costa saw his unblemished professional record suffer a devastating blow in 2020 when he was convincingly finished in his lone UFC title bid thus far. He was looking to bounce back against Marvin Vettori last year, but ultimately came up short.

Costa has been out of action since his loss to Vettori. He recently took to Instagram to call for a rematch with the Italian.

“Unfortunately for idiot Marvin Vettori, I’m in shape to be 185 and ready to go against him with the vengeance.”

Both top-ranked middleweights have lost to the reigning middleweight king, Israel Adesanya. Vettori will look to put himself back in title contention at UFC Paris in September, when he is reportedly set to take on former champion Robert Whittaker. Meanwhile, Costa is slated to lock horns with another former champion, Luke Rockhold, later this year.