Paulo Costa has completed his 40lb weight loss transformation by hitting the middleweight mark for his UFC 278 fight against Luke Rockhold.
Costa, who weighed 225lb at the beginning of August, stepped on the scale at 185.5lb for his fight with former champion Rockhold, who is making his fighting return after a three-year layoff. 'Borrachinha' is also without a win in over three years as he looks to propel himself back into title contention by handing Rockhold his third consecutive knockout defeat.
Despite having never missed weight in his UFC career, Costa was at the centre of controversy for his last fight with Marvin Vettori after admitting he wouldn't be able to make the middleweight limit for the fight. The fight was moved up to a catchweight of 200lb and eventually 205lb, with UFC boss Dana White insisting Costa wouldn't fight at 185lb again following the fiasco.
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Costa guaranteed reporters at the UFC 278 media day on Thursday that he would make weight for his fight with Rockhold, whilst revealing Paddy Pimblett helped him during his preparations. Pimblett often receives more attention for his diet than his fights, with the UFC star putting on over 45lb since his latest fight after binging on junk food.
“Yeah, he gave me a few instructions," Costa said of Pimblett. "Man, if you look for me and Paddy, it’s not a joke anymore. We have to cut a lot of weight in a short time. When I saw Paddy fight two weeks ago, I tweeted this I said man, this is a short time to cut that much weight, but he did it. He did great, and me as well! We know how to cut weight.”
Rockhold, who also weighed in at 185.5lb, admitted he was worried about Costa missing weight and was prepared to take the fight at 190lb if the Brazilian missed the middleweight mark. “I’ve always said during my training camp that the highest I’ll go is 190 pounds. I’m trying to show that I’m here to fight for the belt at middleweight. No bulls****, I’m here to make weight, I’m here to fight, I’m here to conquer.”
The winner of Costa vs Rockhold could produce the next challenger for the middleweight title after current champion Israel Adesanya defends his belt against former kickboxing rival Alex Pereira at UFC 281 in November. Pereira, who has beaten Adesanya twice in their kickboxing days, fights for his first UFC title after just three wins in the promotion.
