Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori are set to headline UFC Fight Night on October 23rd. With both the fighters determined to prove that they are still capable of being a title contender, this one’s going to be a treat for the fans.
Paulo “The Eraser” Costa holds an incredible record of 13 wins while just facing one loss in his MMA career. A few years ago, the Brazilian martial artist was tearing through the division taking out everyone who came in his way. That incredible run got him a title shot against UFC Middleweight Champion Israel Adesanya. This fight was the most exciting fight UFC could put together in the Middleweight division but sadly, the fight was a disappointment for Paulo Costa who got knocked out in the second round of the fight. Since that fight, Costa has been silent on Social Media and is dedicated to coming in the best shape against Vettori.
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As for Marvin “The Italian Dream” Vettori, he holds an MMA record of 17-5-1 and was on a similar trajectory to Costa. After a five-fight win streak in arguably one of the toughest divisions, Vettori put himself in the title contention spot and got the opportunity to fight Adesanya. In that fight, things didn’t go according to his plan as he was embarrassed by the champion inside the octagon and was even taunting throughout the fight as he lost the bout via unanimous decision. After the fight got over, Vettori was still living in denial and thought he had won the fight.
PREDICTION: PAULO COSTA TO WIN VIA KO/TKO
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Our early prediction for the fight is Paulo Costa to win via KO/TKO, given that he is definitely better on his feet compared to Vettori. The Italian is known for his takedowns which he might try to initiate on his opponent but that’s not something Costa would worry about as he holds a takedown defense rate of 80%. Both fighters are volume fighters but Costa has an upper hand here with an average of 0.03 significant strikes per minute compared to Vettori’s 3.88.
Whoever wins this fight will get his name back into the title picture and should fight the winner of Adesanya VS Whittaker 2.
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Shashank Iyer