Vettori rules over Costa, gets 20% bonus

LAS VEGAS • Italy's Marvin Vettori defeated Brazilian Paulo Costa by unanimous decision in their light heavyweight bout on Saturday night at UFC Fight Night in Las Vegas.

Vettori won 48-46 on all three cards of the five-round main event, while Costa was deducted a point in the second round for an accidental eye poke.

The mixed martial arts bout was supposed to have been fought at middleweight but Costa came in overweight, prompting the bump to 205 pounds (93kg).

He later blamed a bicep injury, which led to several weeks of training being put on hold, for missing the weight.

Vettori (18-5-1) absorbed some big shots early on but was able to outlast his opponent (13-2), handing Costa his second consecutive Ultimate Fighting Championship loss.

The 28-year-old landed 214 total strikes, of which 190 were significant, 27 more than 30-year-old Costa.

"I know I have the biggest heart and biggest will," Vettori said.

"When it goes to fourth and fifth rounds, there is no way nobody can keep up. A lot of people said he wouldn't be ready, but I feel a lot of it was a trick. He actually came pretty ready."

On getting an extra 20 per cent - deducted from Costa's purse for missing the weight - on top of his US$50,000 (S$67,400) bonus cheque for getting the "performance of the night" honours, Vettori said: "I get to buy myself another watch with his money."

In the preceding lightweight bout, Ricky Glenn and Grant Dawson fought to a draw. Dawson took one card 29-28 while the other two came in at 28-28.

Other winners included Jessica-Rose Clark, Alex Caceres, Francisco Trinaldo as well as Nicolae Negumereanu.

REUTERS