Paulo Costa is set to fight Khamzat Chimaev in a much-anticipated UFC middleweight match, which Costa claims Chimaev tried to avoid by seeking other opponents; the feud between the fighters has escalated with sharp exchanges online and in interviews, while Costa promises a knockout result.
Paulo Costa’s upcoming non-title fight against Khamzat Chimaev is already generating major buzz among UFC fans. This much-anticipated match, which will take place on October 21 at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, has been on UFC’s plans since the start of 2023 as part of its annual return to Abu Dhabi. Costa says that though there is widespread interest in the match, Chimaev tried his best to avoid this matchup, even going to lengths such as calling upon various other fighters to schedule a fight.
Costa describes his frustration about Chimaev’s reluctance to take on the match during an interview on The MMA Hour. He stated, “You know what’s interesting, because I want that fight so bad — a lot, I want a lot that fight. But not Chimaev. Chimaev doesn’t want that fight, so he tried hard to get another guy to fight. Leon Edwards, Belal Muhammad, [Kamaru] Usman, he called all these guys — this is crazy — to fight him, and only the guys in the [lower weight] division. But he’s kind of nuts, because he was not fighting at 170. He’s going to fight at 185, so he was trying to pull up some lighter guys to 185 — you understand? — and not fight a genuine 185er.”
The tension between Costa and Chimaev originated in 2022 when Chimaev was slated to fight Nate Diaz at UFC 279. At that time, Costa was training with Diaz’s long time teammate, Jake Shields at the UFC Performance Institute and noticed Chimaev watching him intently. This lead to a heated exchange where Costa challenged him to a fight, causing near physical altercations. Since then, the two fighters have exchanged countless online barbs and in interviews, most recently at UFC London, where Chimaev vowed, “I’m going to go smash this guy, make him cry.”
Costa, however, is undeterred by these comments, responding with, “He’s nuts. He’s crazy. He don’t say nothing relevant, nothing [that] makes sense. He’s crazy. I love him. He’s making me make money. He’s a good fighter. At the end, very deep at the bottom, he’s a good fighter. Let’s go. Let’s go there, beat him at his f****** house.” With Chimaev’s dominance in the UFC since his induction in July 2020 and Costa’s own popularity and victorious run, this fight surely promises an intense matchup.