Matches to Make After UFC Fight Night 196

The payoff was undoubtedly worth the pain for Marvin Vettori.

“The Italian Dream” put his brooding rivalry with Paulo Costa to bed—albeit outside the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight division—as he outhustled the hulking Brazilian to a unanimous decision in the UFC Fight Night 196 headliner on Saturday at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. All three cageside judges scored it 48-46 for Vettori, who accepted the bout at 205 pounds due to the Brazilian’s inability or unwillingness to meet their originally contracted weight requirements.

Costa’s combination of narcissistic machismo and brutish power was not enough to throw his counterpart off the scent. Vettori utilized a high-output attack…