UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi was supposed to unfold very differently from how it did! Middleweight contender Paola Costa was supposed to face Khamzat Chimaev, but the Brazilian withdrew two weeks prior due to a severe staph infection that forced him under the knife. ‘Borz,’ in the meantime, defeated Kamaru Usman via majority decision. However, the rivalry between Costa and Chimaev didn’t end there. ‘The Eraser’ returned to the octagon in February 2024!

It started his two-fight skid before he defeated Roman Kopylov in July. After the win, he appeared on ‘The Ariel Helwani Show’ to reveal an exchange his wife, Tamara Alves, had with Chimaev ahead of their canceled bout. “He said, ‘Your man is not a man enough. He likes men,’” Costa claimed. “He sent her a picture of [Israel] Adesanya and me, he said, ‘Look, he lost to Adesanya. He likes Black men. You should look for a better man than him.’” Tamara’s response?

Khabib Nurmagomedov roped in

“It really happened, he sent me a message… Paolo also uses trash talk a lot, but… Paolo never touched on… another fighter’s family, because we understand there’s a limit,” Tamara said during an interview with Laerte Viana na área – MMA. She admitted that trash talk often creates intrigue and excitement about the fight, but condemned Chimaev for crossing the line. “I honestly find it very disrespectful. I think it’s immature for an athlete to do something like that.”

Branding Chimaev’s message “immature,” Tamara claimed the text messages from Chimaev “surprised” her “because he’s Muslim… Muslim men, in general, are very respectful of their families.” She highlighted how Khabib Nurmagomedov carried himself during his UFC run, adding, “The fight Khabib had with Conor McGregor was precisely because of family. And Muslims have this tendency to be very respectful of their families. So, it really surprised me.”

When asked what Chimaev’s message said exactly, Tamara revealed, “He said something like, ‘Oh, your husband likes men.’ … That picture of him and Adesanya… What’s the point of that? … I think he wanted to create intrigue. The worst of all is that he wasn’t the man to say he did it. That he started it, and he tried to change it. He tried to change the story.” When asked whether she responded to Chimaev’s message, Tamara expressed regret about responding to it. 

“I told him something along the lines of, ‘Look, this is everyone’s job. Don’t involve the family. It doesn’t make sense. I think you’re wrong.’ Something along those lines,” Tamara claimed during the interview. But the question is, what does Khamzat Chimaev have to say about all these claims?

Khamzat Chimaev denies accusations from Paulo Costa

Khamzat Chimaev continues to dismiss Paulo Costa’s accusations that he sent inappropriate messages to Costa’s wife. Instead, he claims that the situation was misrepresented. “Why should I DM somebody’s wife?” Chimaev said. “She DM before the fight, like when I announced the fight, like, ‘Khamzat, please don’t take it seriously. We’re just trying to make money and hype.’ I don’t care what they are, just going to f—k your boy up, and that’s it.”

Chimaev has since defeated Dricus DuPlessis in the UFC 319 main event on August 16 in Chicago to become the UFC middleweight champion. However, even before doing that, he had claimed that Costa was not his priority. He claimed, “Bro, I beat the guys who beat him.” Chimaev defeated Robert Whittaker in October 2024, who handed Costa his third loss in the UFC in February 2024. “Maybe in the future, if he wins a couple of fights, but I don’t think he will do that.”

It appears a fierce fight for the truth is brewing between Khamzat Chimaev and Paulo Costa. However, it’s yet to be seen whether Costa ever gets the opportunity to prove he is telling the truth. What do you make of all this? Who is telling the truth?