ММА. UFC Fight Night 196
Paulo Costa (Brazil) vs Marvin Vettori (Italy)
UFC APEX (Las Vegas)
On the night of October 23rd, another UFC event will take place in Las Vegas. In the main event of the evening, Brazilian fighter Paulo Costa will meet Italian Marvin Vettori.
Both fighters fought the same man (Israel Adesanya) in their last fights for the title and both lost. Costa is currently ranked No.2 in the UFC middleweight division, Vettori is ranked No.5.
Paulo Costa: recovered from Adesanya and ready to knock everyone out again
After losing the biggest fight of his life to his biggest rival, one might even say, the enemy, Israel Adesanya, Paulo Costa has been out of action for the whole year. But before that confrontation, he had zero losses and 13 victories, eleven won by knockout in his professional career.
The last fight of Costa was frankly not good. He was losing on the fly, the outcome decided a minute before the end of the second round. Adesanya took him with a left hook in a close exchange of punches, after which Paulo's legs began to buckle, and it was a matter of technique for the champion to finish the challenger. Immediately after the referee's intervention, Israel, sitting on top of his defeated opponent, finally finished him, making an obscene and extremely insulting gesture to the loser.
And here's Israel Adesanya himself suggest how the Brazilian can beat Marvin Vettori:
«Costa is a good puncher. What must Costa do to win? He needs to finish Vettori as early as possible. Let him do what's got him to come so far, because he's not fighting me, he's fighting Vettori, who has incredibly lousy footwork, even worse than his. I feel like Costa is capable of it: just push him, like a bulldozer, but watch out for the touchdowns, because Vettori will try to time it to move him to the ground.»
Israel Adesanya
| Criteria | Costa | Vettori |
| Age | 30 | 28 |
| Height (cm) | 183 | 183 |
| Record | 13-1 | 15-5 |
| Early wins | 11 | 9 |
Marvin Vettori: the tough grappler
Despite getting to the end of his fight with Adesanya, Marvin looked miserable: he was not good at his passes, and he was grabbing punches from all angles and directions. It was as if the champion just did not want to knock him out and did not do it simply because he did not see any threat.
Still, it's worth noting that the Italian honestly earned that chance for a title fight, winning five fights in a row. Another interesting fact is that throughout his career he has had most of his victories by submission.
Expert Betting Tips
It's the most classic confrontation between a wrestler and a puncher. If Costa can hit well, he will win, and should Vettori take the fight to the ground, it will be he who will celebrate victory. But I would side with Costa. His punches are really hard, and Vettori is not Adesanya and can't get away from them. He's going to get hit time after time and he's unlikely to take it all out.
1xbet analysts think otherwise. The odds for the Brazilian fighter to win is 2.365, and for the Italian - 1.58.
«Vettori's most effective weapon is his chin. He can get Costa in deep waters just by taking damage, like a rope-and-dope style, but not really - he just needs to go forward and not fall from missed punches. However, no one knows how one would react to body blows. I don't think anyone's body can take as much damage as their head, especially if the blow goes to the right place. Same with the head, but Vettori has a freaking LEGO building block on his shoulders. He can take a lot of damage, I give him credit for that. I think the most appropriate gameplan for him is to get Costa in deep waters with grappling, exhausting him by making him fight a lot. And Vettori should try and really do something.»
Israel Adesanya