UFC middleweight Paulo Costa is very much looking forward to his head-on collision with Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294. Costa is set to face the undefeated Chechen fighter in Abu Dhabi this year after years of back-and-forth between the two.
Costa recently appeared on The MMA Hour to declare his intention to finish Chimaev as early as possible when the pair meet in the Octagon.
Paulo Costa Promises To Knock Khamzat Chimaev Out At UFC 294
“I think this fight will be crazy and it’s going to end in the first round. Knockout. I will not try to submit him. I’m a black belt but I will not try to submit him. I don’t think he’s going to try to submit me as well. So explosive of a guy, so full of energy. I prefer knockout.”
I think everything about this fight is going to be very intense. Even now, so long before the fight, it’s so intense. And the press conference is going to be crazy.
The fight I think is going to be crazy as well. I think he’s going to be so aggressive, he’s going to jump on the legs, try to put me down, put me in wrestling [situations]. Everything about this fight is amazing. It’s a great fight.”
Costa also criticized his opponent for consistently choosing lighter opponents at welterweight – where he failed to make weight in his latest appearance – rather than moving up and fighting at middleweight.
“You know what’s interesting, because I want that fight so bad — a lot, I want a lot that fight. Dana [White] wants a lot that fight. The audience wants 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.”
Overall, though, Costa is very, very excited for the bout. “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.”
