Former UFC Light-heavyweight Anthony Rumble Johnson isn’t happy with the recent action of UFC middleweight Paulo Costa. Costa was scheduled to face Marvin Vettori at UFC Fight Night 196. The fight was set to take place in the middleweight division but just a few days before the fight Paulo Costa revealed that he is overweight and is not planning to make the 185 pounds mark instead he asked the UFC and Marvin Vettori to agree to a fight at catchweight. The fight was then booker for 195 pounds but Costa couldn’t make it so it was then scheduled to take place in the light-heavyweight category.
Paulo Costa revealed his weight situation just days before the fight.
“My weight right now is 96 kilos (211 pounds),” Costa said during the UFC Vegas 41 media day. “What happened yesterday, [my manager] Wallid [Ismail] talked with some people with him, Ali [Abdelaziz], his manager I think, and it’s not on the schedule to make 185 [pounds] anymore. It’s another weight. I’m not exactly [sure] which weight yet.”
“I think this fight will happen,” Costa said. “It just will not happen if he don’t want to fight me. Maybe we can do a catchweight 195 [pounds] maybe but I think make this fight [205 pounds] could be more exciting to the fans.”
“More explosive fight cause I want to go bring the fight for him. Maybe he wants to bring the fight to me. I think with both guys heavy, this knockout can happen easily.”
“Make a little difference for me now, four or five pounds, six pounds. I just don’t care,” Costa said. “I’m more concentrated on my weight than on his weight. I don’t care if he makes 225 pounds or more. We need to find a catchweight to make. I don’t know exactly yet.”
Anthony Johnson now opens up about Paulo Costa and his weight-cutting issues. Anthony Johson talked about his personal experience.
“I missed weight 3 times while fighting for UFC,” Johnson wrote. “Even if I knew it would be a struggle I’d still try and make the weight and not be a b*tch and try to do catch(weight) outta the blue cuz I was lazy. Costa wants the fame and glory without putting in the work. Bash me all you want but even I didn’t make up excuses or cop out.”
“If he fights 205 just stay there. That way there’s no more excuses and nobody will see how lazy he is. Trust me going up in weight is much better and makes life easier.”
Anthony Johnson has himself struggled a lot in his UFC fighting days due to extreme weight cutting. He has fought at welterweight, middleweight, light-heavyweight. Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori now will be fighting each other tomorrow at the light-heavyweight mark.
HIGHLIGHTS:
- Paulo Costa vs Marvin Vettori at light-heavyweight
- Anthony Johnson slams Paulo Costa for missing weight
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