Alessandro Costa is set to face Stewart Nicoll in a flyweight bout on the preliminary card of UFC Vegas 115 on April 4, looking to rebound from a knockout loss and capitalize on his status as a heavy favorite.
Costa is coming off a knockout defeat to Alden Coria, a fight that ended after he injured his right pinky toe when it got stuck in the fence before being trapped against the cage and finished with punches, prompting referee Dan Miragliotta to stop the bout. Reflecting on that setback, Costa said, "I couldn’t impose my game," and added, "I think that happened right when I was starting to feel better in the fight. I got the takedown and took his back, but that was exactly when I got injured and couldn’t continue. I tried. I know it was a bad decision looking back, we didn’t make the best call, but I tried. I thought it would work, but it didn’t."
The Brazilian flyweight, 2-3 in the UFC with performance bonuses for knockout wins over Jimmy Flick and Borjas, has been sharpening his wrestling, jiu-jitsu, and boxing ahead of Nicoll. "Any athlete who’s coming off a loss feels that pressure for the next fight, like ‘I have to win,’" Costa said, while insisting, "My mind is relaxed. I have another opportunity to do better and to show that I can still reach the top of the division."
Nicoll enters with an 8-2 overall record after back-to-back UFC losses to Jesus Aguilar and Lucas Rocha. Looking at the matchup, Costa said, "At the same time he knows he has to win, I think we’re both in the same situation," before making his intentions clear: "I want a knockout because a knockout means $100,000," and, "my goal is to score a knockout."
