Former UFC middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa accused Khamzat Chimaev of ‘nasty’ messages to his girlfriend ahead of UFC 318.
Paulo Costa will look to return to the win column when he faces Roman Kopylov this Saturday at UFC 318. Costa vs. Kopylov serves as the co-main event for a stacked card, headlined by Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier 3.
Costa returns to the Octagon after falling to former middleweight titleholder Sean Strickland at UFC 302 last year. The one-time title challenger Costa could make a strong case for a title eliminator with a victory at UFC 318.
While Costa doesn’t have a significant rooting interest in Khamzat Chimaev vs. Dricus du Plessis, he wants the opportunity to settle a years-long feud.
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Paulo Costa-Khamzat Chimaev feud escalates ahead of UFC 318
Costa and Chimaev were supposed to fight at UFC 294, before Costa withdrew due to injury. He was replaced by former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who lost to Chimaev by majority decision.
Since their UFC 294 fight fell apart, tensions between Costa and Chimaev haven’t alleviated. The two have traded shots online for months, and according to Costa, Chimaev turned a light-hearted feud into a personal one by getting his girlfriend involved in their beef.
During his UFC 318 media day press conference, Costa explained his disdain for Chimaev.
“I want to fight [Chimaev] very badly,” Costa said. “I want to hurt him. It doesn’t matter if he won that fight or not. It doesn’t matter. We need to fight. He talk very bad things about me, nasty, in my girl’s Instagram DMs, so this is totally personal.
“Dirty things. Like, ‘You should look for a better man,’ something like that. Not the kind of things a real man, confident man would do. Why he message her? Why he didn’t message me instead of her? Coward. He is a coward. I feel angry just to hear his name, so we need to fight.
“I’m pretty sure I’m going to get the victory and I’m going to call his name, it doesn’t matter whether he wins or not. This fight will [only] not happen if he retires.” (h/t MMA Fighting)
Costa recently declared that he wants to fight Chimaev at The White House in 2026 on the UFC’s planned July 4th card. Chimaev, who defeated Robert Whittaker at UFC 308 last year, will get his long-awaited UFC title shot next month at UFC 319.
As of this writing, Chimaev hasn’t responded to Costa’s remarks. He’s assembled an Avengers-like super team to help him prepare for du Plessis ahead of UFC 319 as he looks to claim the middleweight throne.
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Khamzat Chimaev’s UFC future uncertain after recent remarks from longtime rival
But Costa’s desired matchup with Chimaev hit a potential speed bump after recent comments by one of the division’s top contenders. Caio Borralho, who trained with Chimaev earlier in their careers, turned heads when he claimed that he’s hearing Chimaev could potentially retire with a win at UFC 319.
Chimaev hasn’t addressed Borralho’s claims and seems fully focused on his middleweight title shot at UFC 319. But Chimaev has dealt with health issues throughout his career that might impact the life expectancy of his UFC tenure.
If Costa and Chimaev win their upcoming fights, we could be one step closer to seeing their feud come full circle inside the Octagon.
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