Paulo Costa Wants To Stay In 185 Lb. Div. Despite Badly Missing Weight

Paulo Costa was 26 lbs. overweight just 3 days before his fight with Marvin Vettori, but despite the extra pounds, the UFC star tells TMZ Sports he's staying at middleweight.

"I will come back to 185. The very next one. I want to fight for the title and get the title," Paulo says.

FYI, Costa (#2 ranked middleweight) and Vettori (#5 ranked middleweight) were supposed to fight at 185 lbs., but PC told reporters he weighed 211 lbs. on Wednesday ... less than 48 hours before he was supposed to weigh in.

As for why he missed weight, Costa explained it like this, saying, "I came a little bit heavier than usual, and they suggest to make catchweight."

He never identifies "they."

It only takes one glance at Costa to see he's huge for the division. He's got muscles on top of muscles, so, cutting a lot of weight is nothing new for Paulo. But, to shed that weight in mere hours is all but impossible.

Despite the embarrassing situation, the fighters have verbally agreed to fight at a catchweight of 195 lbs. -- 10 lbs. over the originally contracted weight limit.

Costa intending to stay in the division is significant. With a win over Vettori, an argument for a rematch with Israel Adesanya (Izzy handily beat Costa in September 2020), although unlikely, could be a possibility.

If he moved up, Paulo would have to claw to the top of another division.

But, it might not be up to Costa ... 'cause the UFC could force him to move up after nearly losing the main event for the Fight Night card.

We also talked to Marvin (before the weight drama) ... and the 28-year-old fighter, who compared Costa to a fake Conor McGregor, had a message, albeit short and sweet, for his opponent.