One well-known fighter scheduled for the UFC 318 card still has beef with Khamzat Chimaev.
Chimaev has secured a UFC Middleweight Championship opportunity. He will challenge Dricus du Plessis for the 185-pound gold at UFC 319 on Aug. 16. It’ll be Chimaev’s first crack at UFC gold.
While “Borz” has been busy preparing for his title fight, one popular middleweight continues banging on his door.
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Paulo Costa Renews Beef With Khamzat Chimaev
Paulo Costa is set to collide with Roman Kopylov in the co-main event of UFC 318. “Borrachinha” appeared on “The Ariel Helwani Show” and made it clear that he plans to call Khamzat Chimaev out (via MMAJunkie).
“If God gives me this victory, I will call his name,” Costa said. “I’m going to call this son of a b*tch, motherf*cker for a fight. He needs to fight me. I need to fight him. I have tried to fight him for a long time, since we had a beef inside the PI.
“He has been avoiding fighting me for a long time. He always says no, and UFC has tried to put this matchup together for a long time, like two years ago. They said Chimaev said no, ‘he doesn’t want to fight you, he wants to fight anybody at 185, but he doesn’t want to fight you.’”
Back in 2022, Costa and Chimaev had a heated argument inside the UFC Performance Institute. The two were booked to fight the following year, but Costa was forced to withdraw due to an injury.
Even if he picks up the win on Saturday, it’s hard to imagine “Borrachinha” fights Chimaev next if “Borz” is able to defeat Dricus du Plessis and become the UFC Middleweight Champion. Costa has gone 1-4 in his last five outings, and he’s dropped his last two fights.
