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Earlier this week, former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa was bragging about his new and improved physique as he prepared for his Luke Rockhold showdown at the upcoming UFC 278 pay-per-view (PPV) event on Sat. night (Aug. 20) inside Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. Aside from his vanity, “The Eraser” had something to prove after failing to make his mark against Marvin Vettori, forcing “The Italian Dream” to move up to light heavyweight for their “Sin City” showdown.
Would history repeat itself today in “The Beehive State?”
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LIVE! Watch UFC 278 PPV On ESPN+ Here!
BLOCKBUSTER WELTERWEIGHT REMATCH! Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) returns to Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Sat., Aug. 20, 2022, for the first time in more than five years, headlined by a blockbuster Welterweight championship bout that will see Kamaru Usman run it back with No. 2-ranked contender, Leon Edwards. In UFC 278’s pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event, No. 4-seeded Middleweight contender, Paulo Costa, aims to spoil the return of former 185-pound champion, Luke Rockhold. And last but not least, former Featherweight champion and all-time great, Jose Aldo, returns to Bantamweight action, too!
Costa tipped the scale at 185.5 pounds during the UFC 278 early (and official) weigh ins (get full results and video here), then dropped a few F-bombs on the regulators from United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for drug testing “The Eraser” during his early morning weight cut. As for Rockhold, he also breezed through the weigh ins at 185.5 pounds.
Here’s a side-by-side pic of Costa ahead of UFC Vegas 41 (L) and UFC 278 (R):
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Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC (L), Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC (R)
Here’s video of both attempts:
UFC Vegas 41:
Against UFC 278:
To be fair, Costa looks jacked at any weight.
“I never missed weight [before UFC Vegas 41], I just had the problem with my weight once against Marvin,” Costa told CBS Sports. “I injured my arm three weeks before the fight. So I stopped training. I decided to get out of the fight. My team talked to me and said, ‘We can do this. Use more kicks. Use more Muay Thai than boxing. You can do this.’ I started to do different things but not train as hard as I should train so my weight stayed very high. A lot of mistakes happened in communication with my old agent, Wallid [Ismail], and the UFC.”
This marks the final fight on the Brazilian’s current UFC contract.
MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 278 fight card RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ABC/ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.
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