Paulo Costa has accused Khamzat Chimaev of avoiding tough fights and is now eyeing a match with Kamaru Usman, who recently stepped in for him against Chimaev, as a way for both of them to bounce back from recent losses.
Paulo Costa’s had enough. He’s done chasing Khamzat Chimaev.
You see, there was supposed to be this middleweight grudge match. Costa versus Chimaev, UFC 294, last October. But Costa, poor guy, had to drop out. Elbow infection.
Chimaev? He wasn’t happy. Blasted Costa for pulling out. And now, Costa’s firing back. He’s saying it’s Chimaev who’s the no-show.
“He needs to stop running,” Costa told Submission Radio. “He needs to have balls to face me.”
Costa’s been watching Chimaev for a while. Says the guy’s been avoiding fights. “He has no balls. If the guy’s not pushing him, he has no balls to fight him.”
Chimaev? He wants easy fights, according to Costa. Doesn’t want to face guys like him or Robert Whittaker. “He wants to fight guys with no wrestling, no jiu-jitsu game, no grappling, something like that. No balls.”
So, what did Chimaev do? He fought Kamaru Usman, former welterweight champ, at UFC 294. Scraped a majority decision win. Costa? He got booked against Robert Whittaker at UFC 298. Whittaker won. Three-round thriller.
Before fighting Whittaker, Costa wasn’t keen on a rematch with Chimaev. Now? After a loss, he’s considering it. “It’s possible in the near future,” he said. “If I had won, I would not want to fight him, but right now it makes sense because I lost.”
Now, Costa’s got his eye on Usman. The guy who stepped in for him against Chimaev. Usman took the fight on just 10 days’ notice. Didn’t win, but showed he could compete at 185 pounds.
Costa respects Usman. Thinks a fight with him could get them both back on track. “I think he’s coming from a loss as well, I came from a loss,” Costa said. “Me and him need to put a win in the records.”
Usman’s not young, Costa points out. He’s done everything at welterweight. “I think it’s time for him to move to middleweight,” Costa said.
Usman did once fight Chimaev, but it wasn’t the whole process. He just got short notice and came up to middleweight weighing like a welterweight. Costa thinks this fight makes sense. “He’s a powerful guy. He has different skills on the ground, wrestling skills, takedowns, and striking, I think it’s the fight to make and to put one of in the line again to the top.”