Khamzat Chimaev is set to return to the octagon after a year at UFC 294 in a bout with #6 ranked middleweight Paulo Costa on October 21. And as expected, ‘Borz’ has already come out and promised to not just beat the Brazilian, but also make him cry.
Costa, for his part, is confident of victory and has talked about looking forward to beating the Chechen, especially at his ‘home’. And many fans feel Costa’s size and strength mean he will be a problem for the Chechen. An old clip of the two running into each other and having a verbal back-and-forth has resurfaced, and fans have vocally reacted to it.
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Video of Khamzat Chimaev and Paulo Costa spat resurfaces
The video shows Costa and Chimaev running into each other at a training facility along with their teams. The two can be seen talking to each other across the cage. Initially, the two just engage in some usual, harmless banter between two potential opponents.
The incident happened in September of 2022, during the lead-up to UFC 279 where Chimaev was set to face Nate Diaz. The two middleweights ran into each other at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas and mouthed off before things escalated.
But, pretty soon tempers flare as Costa says he wants to fight Chimaev then and there. ‘Borz’ is then held back by his team and the two have to be separated.
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Chimaev had taken shots at Costa during UFC 279 media day. He even dismissed the notion of fighting the Brazilian, citing his humiliating loss to Israel Adesanya. All this led to things reaching a boiling point when they eventually confronted each other. Nevertheless, fans had a lot to say about the resurfaced clip of the year-old incident.
Fans react to Costa and Chimaev nearly coming to blows last year
Fans took to the comments section and let their thoughts known. Here is a sample of what they had to say.
One fan thought Costa’s size would pose a problem to the Chechen:
“Paulo is so much bigger than khamzat, I can’t wait”
Another thought that this was a classic case of both having a big mouth but neither wanting to engage:
““Hold me back when I make a scene” energy”
Another felt Costa will smash Chimaev:
“Costa by dismantle, he gonna smesssh Khamzat”
One user wanted Costa to beat the UAE national:
“I hope costa give him beating that he will never forget”
Another user felt Chimaev would easily beat Costa as even a skinnier Israel Adesanya was able to beat the Brazilian:
Do u know what adesanya do to costa even he skinny one.. What do u think khamzat will do do this drunk costa.. RIP COSTA.. cant wait letss gooo.
Dana White recently told TNT Sports that Chimaev was the most requested fighter by fans, after Conor McGregor. This, of course, means that if Costa is able to beat the UAE national, his standing in the promotion, and more importantly, among fans would improve drastically. Conversely, a loss for Chimaev would put the brakes on his hype train.
Watch this story: Is the Khamzat Chimaev vs Paulo Costa Fight Happening on UFC 294?
Written by
Edited by
Yeswanth Praveen