Former UFC middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa wants to make a return to the octagon and face another former title challenger Marvin Vettori. The Brazilian’s coach hyped his return during an interaction with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.

The reporter wrote on his Twitter account, “Asked MMA manager Wallid Ismail (@WallidJfc) for an update on Paulo Costa (@BorrachinhaMMA). He said the fight he wants to make and is pushing UFC for is Marvin Vettori (@MarvinVettori). Both talk trash, fun matchup. Wallid is trying to make it from his end.”

Costa was at loggerheads with UFC over pay issues recently. He was scheduled for a matchup with Robert Whittaker in April but had to pull out because of COVID-19 complications.

He was scheduled to face Jared Cannonier in a UFC event in August. Costa pulled out of that event after having some pay issues, but he didn’t associate pay issues to be the reason for withdrawal. According to him, he never signed an agreement.

It seems he has sorted out his issues with the promotion and is raring to go against ‘The Italian Dream‘. The latter’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz too, has responded positively to the bout. Retweeting Okamoto’s tweet, the manager wrote, “We ready just call @mickmaynard 2.”

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Both Costa and Vettori have lost their previous bout against the same opponent, middleweight champion Israel Adesanya. Vettori took Adesanya full five rounds unlike Costa, who was brutally knocked out by the champ.

Paulo Costa and Vettori teased about a fight earlier

After his loss to Adesanya at UFC 263, ‘The Italian Dream’ in an interview revealed whom he wanted to fight next. “To be honest, I would like to really destroy this drunk guy who can’t even stay off drinking and it’s Borrachinha eventually,” Vettori told BT Sport.

“Either way, I’m as game as it comes. I always show up. There’s not one fight that I didn’t show up… He’s not straight too much. I don’t know what he’s about but if he can make it to a fight, I’ll definitely like to smack this guy.”

In response, Costa had tweeted a photo of Vettori wearing the Venum gear backward. He added a caption to it, “I could fight this Moron if he show to fight like that.”

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Since both parties are ready, it’s up to UFC to make the last call. It’s gonna be an interesting fight as both fighters will aim for a win after a title fight loss.

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