UFC middleweight Paulo Costa believes Khamzat Chimaev’s tough-guy persona is all an act. Speaking to Full Send MMA for the first time after their backstage clash, Costa detailed his side of the story.
“I don’t think he was actually there for fight. I think he was just for show something for the cameras because we are training, just me, Jake Shields and [Costa’s girlfriend] Tamara. Three guys and he had there with him ten guys of his team.
Paulo Costa Blasts “Gourmet Chechen Gangster” Khamzat
The door to the mat was open whole time and he was there, just to watch us. So if he would like to fight, why he didn’t jump in the mat and fight us? Maybe he was scared of Tamara, who was recording. Tamara is strong, man. Very tough.
Maybe this. I don’t know. I have no reasons why he didn’t jump on the mat. He called my name, so I went there and said, ‘What do you want?’ He said, ‘Paulo, why’d you talk about me?’
I said, ‘Man, it doesn’t matter what I talked about you. I want to fight you. You want to fight me?’ He said, ‘No. I just want to know what you said about me.’ ‘I want to fight you, motherf*****!’ and he said, ‘Okay, let’s fight right now.’
I say, ‘Okay, come on.’ He say ‘No, you come here.’ Oh my God, ‘Okay. Let’s go there.’ When I went there, three of his team guys came and blocked the gate and Chimaev was like ‘Oh, hold me, hold me, hold me. Hold me, guys! Hold me! I will fight Paulo right now!
Man, f***, he’s not a gangster. He’s a Gourmet Chechen gangster. He’s a fake gangster.” Considering the professions of these two men, there’s an easy solution to the problem. They can fight. Khamzat, although he has mostly competed at welterweight during his time with the UFC, has had no trouble making the 185-pound middleweight limit. Paulo Costa, however, feels that Khamzat is still afraid of him.
“I don’t think he wants that beef. He knows he’s just used to bully short guys, small guys, when he saw me, he didn’t expect I act like that. ‘Okay, let’s go right now, let’s fight right now.’ So he froze. He didn’t expect that. He wasn’t real fearsome.
I’m a big guy. I’m one of the biggest guys in the middleweight division and he cannot handle me. He wants to bully the small guys. I know this kind of bully, I know very well. He just wants to bully short guys. He was gifted when he fought Burns. He don’t have any chance against me.”
Whose side are you on in the Khamzat vs Costa beef? Let us know in the comments.
