Paulo
Costa continues to eye a matchup against Khamzat
Chimaev despite having his next booking confirmed.
Costa (14-2) was scheduled to face Chimaev (13-0) at
UFC 294 in October but was forced out due to a severe elbow
infection. The Brazilian was ultimately replaced on short notice by
former welterweight champion Kamaru
Usman, who went on to drop a majority decision against
“Borz.”
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“Borrachinha” is now scheduled to face former champ Robert
Whittaker (24-7) at
UFC 298 on Feb. 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim,
California.
According to Costa, he was initially pursuing the Chimaev fight but
accepted the Whittaker booking as he didn’t want to wait very
long.
“I was trying to fight Gourmet Chechen — Chimaev. I was trying.
Since I could not fight and he fought against Kamaru — he won, but
he didn’t convince anyone I don’t think, me and the people I talk
with, at least, and most of the fans I don’t think,” the Brazilian
said on The MMA Hour. “I was not convinced he’s the
guy, No. 1 contender. So, I keep trying that fight, pushing for
that fight. ‘OK guys let’s make this fight happen,’ and what Hunter
and the UFC guys said he’s not going to fight until June or July or
something like that. So, then I needed to move. They said, ‘We have
Whittaker.’ I said OK, let’s go,”
Costa’s first title bid was foiled by Israel
Adesanya in 2020. He then bounced back at UFC
278 with a somewhat bizarre decision win over Luke
Rockhold, who was returning after a three-year hiatus and
hadn’t won a fight since 2017. Regardless, “Borrachinha” believes
he can secure No.1 contender status with a win over Whittaker.
If successful, Costa’s dream fight would be a gold bid against
Chimaev. The Brazilian is adamant that he has all the tools and
grit to hand “Borz” his first professional loss.
“My dream fight is for the belt against [the] Chechen. I have no
question about one fight, one matchup against Chimaev. I can bet
everything on me. I’m so confident in that fight,” The 32-year-old
said.
“This should happen, it has to happen. But they cannot force [him].
You don’t know how much everybody from the UFC forced, they
actually forced Khamzat to fight me in Abu Dhabi. He [turned it
down] three times last year. They put him in the corner and said,
‘OK, so you’re going to fight no one if you don’t fight Paulo.’
They made him a very good contract, like $2 million, to sign this
deal. But Allah saved him. God saved him, just for now.”