Following his UFC 318 win over Roman Kopylov, former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa took aim at the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev.
“Everybody knows that I hate that guy. Everybody knows who. That motherf***er Khamzat Chimaev. He’s a big a**hole,” Costa said after his win on July 19.
“My wife is over here. He DM’d her. This is not good. This is a bad thing in every culture. He said bad things about me, about her, but he never sent to me because he’s a coward,” continued Costa. “Chimaev, you are a coward. And I’m here and I’m going to look for you. I’m going to chase for you, and I will not stop until I get to you.”
Needless to say, the two do not like each other. They had a verbal altercation at the UFC PI in 2022 and regularly take shots at each other on social media. It’s a match Costa wants and he believes he knows how to beat the Chechen.
“This is pretty easy, and I’m going to break down this. Okay? I can see this very clear in my mind right now how it’s going to happen,” Costa recently told Submission Radio.
“He’ll be very stressful, anxious, and anger against me. Once the fight starts, he will come, faint some punch down there and he’s going to shoot instantly on my legs,” continued Costa. “I’m going to spend some time defending his takedown. He’s going to try, try, try, push, push, push. And I think after one minute, maybe one and a half, he will be exhausted. His arms and shoulders will be heavy. Heavy like a heavyweight.
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“Then he will realize he didn’t put my back on the mat, on the canvas, on the floor, and he will be heavy and slow. Maybe I do not finish him in the very first round. I’m going to let him gas out everything that he has until he be like dead man walking in the second round. Then I’m going to hit his belly as much as I can on front kicks, on body shots, until I see he wants to give up. When I see that, I’m going to start to hit his face and make him uglier than he is.”
A fight between the two would be a legitimate grudge match, but their careers are in different places at the moment. Costa is currently ranked No. 12 in the middleweight division. Chimaev is ranked No. 3 and is scheduled to fight for the championship against titleholder Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 on Aug. 16 at the United Center in Chicago.
