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“No, no — I will keep fighting at middleweight,” he said without pause when asked about a potential shift to the light heavyweight division. “I will take the belt, defend it some times, and after that, I can think about doing another move.”
Like Costa, Vettori enters Saturday night’s contest coming off a championship loss to Adesanya, as the Italian dropped a unanimous decision to the Nigerian-born, New Zealand-based titleholder in June.
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It was the second time he’d been bested by Adesanya, with the two losses serving as bookends on either side of a five-fight winning streak that highlighted the growth Vettori had made since their first encounter and carried him into title contention.
“It’ll be another fight,” Costa said of his clash with Vettori, offering a slightly different take on the contest than he did earlier in the day. “I don’t see anything special from him, but it’s a tough fight and I will be there to do my best and knock him out.
“That’s my goal; that’s always my goal.”
Knocking out Vettori is his Saturday night goal, his short-term target to hit, but bigger picture, he wants another crack at Adesanya, and promised that when things go the way he envisions them playing out this weekend, he’ll once again call out the champion.