Khamat Chimaev and Paulo Costa got into a minor altercation at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas not long ago. Ahead Khamzat’s debut pay-per-view headliner against Nate Diaz at this weekend’s UFC 279 event, Chimaev expressed absolutely minimal interest in ever fighting Costa. At the pre-fight media day, Chimaev claimed that he’s not interested in Paulo Costa because “somebody already f***** him up in the ass”.
“Nothing [happened]. He was talking s*** about me. I never talked about that guy, maybe once or something. He wants to be famous now.
Chimaev Dismisses Potential Paulo Costa Fight: “Somebody already f***** him up in the ass.”
Israel [Adesanya] f***** his ass. So what? All the world saw that s***. He has to go back and do something easy. Why [should I fight Costa]? I don’t fight with that guy. Somebody already f***** him up in the ass.”
Chimaev, who will face Nate Diaz at welterweight this weekend, has his eye on the 170-pound title. Considering the recent change in the title – Leon Edwards knocked champion Kamaru Usman out at UFC 278 to earn the strap – Khamzat has some thoughts on the welterweight title landscape.
“It was an amazing performance. [Leon Edwards] showed his heart. In the last minute, he knocked him out. I am happy for him. He deserved that. He worked hard.
He doesn’t want to talk about me. I see somebody asked him my name, and he jumped over it. He spoke about [Nate] Diaz, he spoke about [Jorge] Masvidal, [Kamaru] Usman, all of them. The guy doesn’t want to see my face.”
As for Kamaru Usman, Chimaev, who once promised to “kill everybody” in the division, had a surprisingly wholesome message for the recently dethroned no.1.
“I hope he’s healthy. We will see. I want to see him come back. If he comes back like he was before, I want to fight with that guy.”
Khamzat Chimaev’s rise through the UFC has been nothing short of meteoric. His debut at UFC Fight Island in 2020 was quickly followed with yet another appearance. Until his most recent fight – a decision victory over top-ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns – Khamzat had a 100% finish rate. His suffocating wrestling and vicious striking rapidly turned Khamzat Chimaev into a star, and with a fight against one of the UFC’s biggest names in Nate Diaz around the corner, Chimaev may well be fighting for a title within a year.
Would you want to see Khamzat Chimaev fight Paulo Costa? Let us know in the comments.
