Costa details previous weight miss, vows to make weight.
Paulo Costa (13-2) is set to fight this weekend in UFC 278 against former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold (16-5). Costa looks to get back to the win column after two consecutive losses against the champion, Israel Adesanya, and Marvin Vettori.
In his previous bout, a lot of controversies stemmed from his weight-cutting debacle, which made the middleweight matchup into a catchweight, and then into essentially a light heavyweight scrap.
“I want to bet with you. I can make the weight tonight. Over here somebody went to bet? Nobody?” Costa asked the media when asked about how likely it was he would make weight.
He explained that for the Vetorri fight this past October he had suffered an arm injury and his training camp was limited, which labored his weight cut and conditioning.
Costa’s last win was approximately three years ago and he is facing an opponent with much unknown due to a three-year absence from the sport, but he believes he’s in great shape and is confident in his abilities to get a win.
“I think every fighter needs to win but man I put a lot of enforcement, a lot engagement to win this next fight. It’s very important to win of course and I did what I needed to do to get here. Very sharp and I have no doubt I will win like Saturday because he’s not more appropriate in his, he hasn’t my ability, my powerful, my prime that I bring for this fight,” Costa said.
The bout between Costa versus Rockhold will be the co-main event of the main card of the evening on pay-per-view via ESPN +.
UFC 278 takes place on Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022, live from Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, UT. Follow along with FanSided MMA for all your news and highlights.