Paulo Costa doesn’t think Khamzat Chimaev is deserving of any recognition in the middleweight division.
Costa will face Robert Whittaker at UFC 298 this Saturday, and “The Eraser” is already expecting that the co-main event fight will lead him to the title shot. This is possible since the promotion still hasn’t mentioned anything about Dricus Du Plessis’ next match. If Costa wants to get the UFC’s attention, however, there are some obstacles in his way. Aside from Whittaker, Chimaev is one of the fighters in the division making his claim to the title shot.
The Russian faced Kamaru Usman last October in a match announced as a No. 1 contender bout by UFC. Although he won, Chimaev suffered an injury, allowing Du Plessis to take the shot against then-champ Sean Strickland and steal the belt. Now that the division has a new champ, “Borz” wants to remind the promotion of its promise to him and claim the title shot. Costa doesn’t like anything about this.
During the UFC 298 media day, Costa echoed the protests of other fighters in the weight class about Chimaev’s record. For Costa, despite the UFC indeed announcing Chimaev’s last fight as the No. 1 contender match, his record at 185 makes him a questionable contestant for the title shot.
“Everybody knows I don’t like the guy, but I don’t think too many people take him seriously anymore,” Costa said. “He just stopped fighting. He didn’t beat anybody in the middleweight division, top contenders, or even top 15. He didn’t beat anybody in the top 15 middleweight division. How can you take this guy seriously?
“He barely could beat Usman in 10-day short notice. Usman is a welterweight. He didn’t cut weight to middleweight, and everybody saw that fight. I was there.”
Ultimately, the 32-year-old underscored that he wants Chimaev’s title shot claim to be over by the time he defeats Whittaker. For the No. 6 fighter, the fellow middleweight should first prove that he deserves to be in the weight class.
“I like this beef between countries and cultures and two guys, but after I beat Whittaker, I will not want to hear his name,” Costa continued. “F*ck him. He needs to do something. He needs to beat somebody at least top 10 in the middleweight. He didn’t yet, and I don’t think he’s capable to do that.”
Despite that, Costa is not closing the doors on the possibility of fighting Chimaev in the future. For the Brazilian, however, that will only happen when it is time for him to defend the belt.
“My dream fight is for the belt against Chen Chen,” Costa said last month. “I have no question about one fight, one matchup against Chimaev. I can bet everything on me. I’m so confident in that fight. This should happen. It has to happen.”
