Alessandro Costa is a heavy favorite going into his flyweight showdown against Stewart Nicoll in the preliminary portion of UFC Vegas 115 on April 4, and he’s happy to be back in action after an unfortunate accident led to a knockout loss in his last octagon appearance.
Costa was away from action over a year due to a knee surgery when he agreed to face short-notice replacement Alden Coria on 2025’s Noche UFC event in September. He was behind on all scorecards going into the final round after ripping the flesh between his toes 95 seconds into the second round when his right pinky toe got stuck in the fence.
“I couldn’t impose my game,” Costa told MMA Fighting. “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.”
Costa started the third round landing kicks with his injured leg, but eventually slowed down and became an easy target for Coria, who trapped him against the cage and landed a flurry of punches that forced the referee Dan Miragliotta to step in and end the contest.
“It’s another lesson, you know? I don’t regret anything,” Costa said. “Everything happens for a reason, everything is in God’s plan. I can’t be dwelling on it thinking, ‘Damn, I should’ve done this.’ It happened, it’s done. Now I have the opportunity to do better, so that’s my mindset.”
Costa now enters the cage with a promotional record of 2-3, having bounced between wins and losses since joining the UFC in 2022. Nicoll has yet to win a fight in the UFC after back-to-back defeats to Jesus Aguilar and Lucas Rocha, which dropped his overall MMA record to 8-2, and Costa feels both enter the cage with something to prove.
“Any athlete who’s coming off a loss feels that pressure for the next fight, like ‘I have to win,’” Costa said. “That’s my mentality right now. But at the same time, I don’t feel pressured in a way that harms me. I’m not allowing that to affect my camp or my mindset. My mind is relaxed. I have another opportunity to do better and to show that I can still reach the top of the division.”
“But I think he’s under a lot of pressure because he might be out if he loses,” he continued. “At the same time he knows he has to win, I think we’re both in the same situation. I feel very prepared, much better than in my last fight. I’ve been improving my wrestling, my jiu-jitsu, and my boxing as well. I’m ready to deliver a great performance.”
Costa won performance bonuses for both of his UFC victories, cashing extra $50,000 checks for his knockouts over Jimmy Flick and Borjas, and hopes for a similar ending against a “very experienced” Nicoll at UFC Vegas 115.
“I want a knockout because a knockout means $100,000,” Costa said. “I think a lot of fighters’ mindsets are changing with the new bonuses. People are going in there to put on a show. And of course, I expect him to come in trying to beat me in every way possible, but I’m ready for that — and my goal is to score a knockout.”
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