Marvin Vettori was scheduled to return to the Octagon against Robert Whittaker at UFC 275, but an injury has forced the ‘Reaper’ to withdraw from the pay-per-view event.
Now without an opponent, Vettori took to Twitter to express interest in either Khamzat Chimaev or Darren Till as a replacement for the injured Whittaker. Chimaev and Till have yet to respond to Vettori, but a former opponent of ‘The Italian Dream’ was eager to request a rematch against him…again.
Paulo Costa has not fought since losing to Vettori at UFC Vegas 41 this past October. What was supposed to be a middleweight fight turned into a light heavyweight fight after ‘Borrachinha’ showed up nearly 20 pounds overweight and explained he would be unable to weigh in at the non-title 186-pound limit. Despite the chaotic fight week, Vettori bested Costa via unanimous decision.
However, a lopsided loss to Vettori has not kept Costa from requesting a second fight. The Brazilian has previously stated that he would only compete if and only if he was given an immediate rematch against the Italian. He has stood firm on that condition, but Vettori has no interest whatsoever in accommodating Costa and shut down his request in a recent video on Instagram.
“He’s trying to get a fight now, but he can just f—k off,” said Vettori. “You did me dirty and I f—ked you up and that’s over, buddy. That’s over. Get somebody else in between.
“Claim your spot,” continued Vettori. “You’re behind me. I f—ked you up and I’m talking about Paulo Costa. It makes not a f—king bit of sense for me to fight this motherf—ker. Zero sense for me. Zero. Plus, I f—ked him up with over 20-plus pounds over. F—k this dude. F—k this dude. I got your money, I got the win. Get the f—k away from me, you know? It’s over.”
Vettori said he would continue training and preparing for a potential fight should he receive a replacement from the UFC soon. Another option he hinted at was Luke Rockhold, the ex-UFC middleweight champion who has been gearing up for his long-awaited return since suffering a second-round knockout to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 over two years ago.
