UFC star Paulo Costa has joked that he will use Paddy Pimblett's expertise in weigh cutting ahead of his own return to the octagon.
Costa, a former middleweight title contender, weighed in at 204.5lb last time out against Marin Vettori after a late fight week change. The pair had been supposed to fight at 185lb with a one-pound discrepancy, but Costa claims he was injured and unable to make the weight.
And after legendary former world title challenger Chael Sonnen suggested that he expects Costa to miss weight again, the Brazilian took to Twitter to defend himself. He has been mocking Pimblett for his extreme weight fluctuations for weeks, and joked that he would use Pimblett as his nutritionist when he faces Luke Rockhold this summer.
Costa also took a swipe at former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, who was stripped of his belt after missing weight for his fight with Justin Gaethje three weeks ago. He tweeted: "Uncle Chael is everything ok? I got Charles' scale and Pimblett as nutritionist," alongside photos of the lightweight duo.
Pimblett has never missed weight in his career, despite ballooning up by multiple stone between fights as he keeps a dreadful diet. However, Costa is often told he should move up from middleweight due to his massive frame, where he has a shredded physique but often struggles with the cut.
"Paulo can't make weight," Sonnen said in a YouTube video on his channel. "Paulo's not going to make weight. I'm not looking into some crystal ball here. We know as human beings we don't get smaller with time.
"We know about the work ethic and training of Paulo Costa. We know that Chael personally has made a very loud and boisterous push to get Paulo out of division completely and just give him a fresh coat of paint, a new start at 205 pounds. Now if I'm wrong and he pulls down to 185, fine, eat my words. But I'm very comfortable telling you guys that's not going to happen."
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Prior to suffering his two back-to-back defeats against Vettori and middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, Costa had been undefeated. He beat the likes of Johnny Hendricks, Uriah Hall and Yoel Romero to earn his shot at the gold, where he was comfortably stopped by Adesanya in a heated grudge match.
He claims to have been hungover the night of the fight, after drinking a bottle of wine in his hotel room the night before in an effort to calm his nerves. "I went to my bed but couldn't fall asleep," Costa told ESPN after the fight.
"I tried melatonin, but it didn't work. Sometimes I will use one cup of wine when I feel a lot of stress, it's helped me a little bit, but just one cup, when I have time to put it out of my body. But it was too late. I was desperate to fall asleep."
