Things are getting personal between Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev.
UFC 318: Paulo Costa media day interview
UFC 318 fighter Paulo Costa spoke to MMA Junkie and reporters at media day for his co-main event middleweight bout vs. Roman Kopylov.
NEW ORLEANS – Things between Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev seem to be getting worse.
The two UFC middleweights have been feuding for many years, taking shots at each other online, but it looks like things have now escalated. According to Costa (14-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC), things have now taken a personal turn, as Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) allegedly slid into Costa’s girlfriend’s direct messages on Instagram to talk bad about the Brazilian.
This was a step too far for Costa, and he now wants to fight Chimaev more than anyone in the UFC.
“I want to fight him very badly,” Costa said at the UFC 318 media day. “I want to hurt him. It doesn’t matter if he won the fight or not; it doesn’t matter. We need to fight. He talked very bad things about me to my girl on Instagram DM’s. This is totally personal. I feel angry just to hear his name, so we need to fight. … I’m going to do my best Saturday, if God gives me the victory because he controls everything, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get the victory and I’ll call his name. It doesn’t matter if he wins or not. This fight will only not happen if he retires.”
Costa returns to the cage this Saturday against Roman Kopylov (14-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) in the co-main event of UFC 318 (pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+), which takes place Saturday at Smoothie King Center. He plans on calling out Chimaev, should he get his hand raised. Chimaev is currently scheduled to challenge UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis next month in the main event of UFC 319.
“Borrachinha” didn’t reveal the exact content of the messages Chimaev sent to his girlfriend, but he did give a hint of the sentiment.
“Dirty things,” Costa said. “Like, ‘You should look for a better man.’ Something like that, you know. Dirty things, dirty things. These are not things a real man, a confident man, ought to do. Why he messaged her? Why he didn’t message me? Coward. He is a coward.”
Costa can’t say Chimaev won’t be champion, but he’s also not too sure he can overwhelm Du Plessis the way Chimaev has with previous opponents.
“It’s hard to predict something, but I feel Dricus is more solid,” Costa said. “He can resist the very first rush from Chimaev, and then we never know after the third round how Chimaev can maintain his energy after the third round, so I think this is my question.”
