Paulo Costa insists UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev won’t be able to impose his will on him.
Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) dethroned Dricus Du Plessis in dominant fashion to claim the middleweight title in Saturday’s UFC 319 headliner at United Center in Chicago. Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) had no answer for Chimaev, who landed 12 takedowns and had more than 21 minutes of control time.
Costa (15-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) says knowing he outlasted Olympic silver medalist wrestler Yoel Romero in his fifth UFC fight in 2019, he’s confident that he’ll have the strength to fend off Chimaev’s wrestling.
“He dominate Dricus, but he could not do the same thing that he used to do against welterweights,” Costa said of Chimaev on “The Ariel Helwani Show.” “Like, maul the guys, finish the guys. When he face a real middleweight, a really heavy middleweight, he’s going to have some problems. He’s going to look boring. All the other fights, he was in exciting fights because the guys couldn’t handle him. Even (Robert) Whittaker. Whittaker is kind of fast, super high-level, but not strong enough to stop a guy like him. Dricus is a real middleweight in my opinion, because he came from, I don’t know, maybe 230 pounds to fight at 96 kilos on fight day. That’s what I do. I know how to handle these guys.
“Remember my fight against (Yoel) Romero? Romero is a high-level wrestler and very good also. He couldn’t put me down. He tried four or five times, he (took me down) once at the end of the second round, like 10 seconds left to finish, but he couldn’t keep me there. The same when I fight Khamzat. The same is going to happen. He could not hold me down. Even if he takes me down, I don’t think I’m going to stay on my feet the whole time against him. I think he can put me down, but he will not keep me there.”
Costa, who recently returned to the win column by defeating Roman Kopylov at UFC 318, had a final message for Chimaev.
“Motherf*cker, look, you know who I am. I’m coming for you,” Costa said. “You can hide as much as you want. I know how to fight you. You’re going to rush as you always do. You’re going to do your sh*t thing. You’re going to shoot on my legs. I know that, I expect that, I’m ready for that, but then guess what? We have five rounds.
“I’m going to (make) you pay for every time you shoot on my legs. That’s what my coach Eric (Albaraccin) taught me to do. I’m going to make you pay. Then when we’re back on the feet, I’m going to hurt you so badly you want to give up, but I will not let you give up. I will hurt you until the referee stops the f*cking fight. I’m coming for you. I will defeat you.”
