Anthony Johnson rips Paulo Costa for UFC Vegas 41 weight shenanigans: ‘Even I didn’t make up excuses or cop out’

Anthony Johnson speaks from experience when he tells Paulo Costa to stop messing around with the scale.

The current Bellator light heavyweight and former UFC contender took to Instagram on Friday to tear into Costa prior to the official weigh-ins for Saturday’s UFC Vegas 41 event. Costa fights Marvin Vettori in the light heavyweight headliner, but the bout was originally scheduled for middleweight before Costa publicly admitted that he would not be able to make the contracted weight and a 205-pound bout was negotiated instead, with Costa being fined 20 percent of his purse.

Having struggled with making weight himself during his time with the UFC, Johnson felt qualified to criticize Costa’s supposed gamesmanship.

“I missed weight three times while fighting for the UFC,” Johnson wrote in an Instagram story. “Even if I knew it would be a struggle I’d still try and make the weight and not be a b*tch and try to do [catchweight] outta the blue ‘cause I was lazy.

“Costa wants the fame and glory without putting in the work. Bash me all you want, but even I didn’t make up excuses or cop out.”

Johnson began his UFC career competing in the welterweight division, but badly missed the 170-pound limit on two occasions and once in his lone attempt at 185 pounds. He later moved up to the light heavyweight division, where he twice challenged for a UFC championship. The 15-year veteran is currently part of the Bellator roster, though he was recently forced out of the promotion’s Light Heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament due to an illness.

Costa weighed in at 204.5 pounds for the UFC Vegas 41 light heavyweight main event and Johnson advises him to stick to that weight class.

“If he fights 205 just stay there,” Johnson continued. “That way there’s no more excuses and nobody will see how lazy he is. Trust me, going up in weight is much better and makes life much easier.”

See screenshots of Johnson’s Instagram story below:

@anthony_rumble, Instagram

@anthony_johnson, Instagram