Question weighs heavily over Paulo Costa vs. Marvin Vettori — Which one will remain a UFC contender?

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya released a YouTube video last weekend in which he broke down Saturday’s main event fight between his “children” Paulo Costa and Marvin Vettori.

On its face, Costa vs. Vettori is an outstanding main event featuring two of the UFC’s top middleweights. Costa and Vettori are ranked Nos. 2 and 5, respectively, by the UFC. They’re Nos. 3 and 6 in the ESPN rankings.

As good as this matchup is, however, it’s worth pointing out Adesanya’s presence. Both Costa (13-1) and Vettori (17-4-1) are coming off losses to the champion — and frankly, neither appeared to handle the loss particularly well. How each of them will look in this first appearance back is a major question.

In the aftermath of his TKO loss to Adesanya in September 2020, Costa, 30, essentially said he was hungover during the fight, after drinking an entire bottle of wine the night before. He demanded Adesanya accept an immediate rematch, despite the fact he was out-landed in total strikes by 55 to 12. Costa has since pulled out of two scheduled fights, citing illness and contract issues. This week he alerted the UFC that he would not make the middleweight limit of 186 pounds for a nontitle bout, and Vettori agreed to adjust the fight, first to a 195-pound catchweight, then to the 205-pound light heavyweight limit.

Vettori, 28, suffered a unanimous decision loss to Adesanya at UFC 263 in June. At the conclusion of the five-round fight, Vettori felt he had done enough to win the fight –…