“He needs to AVOID Costa,” Khamzat Chimaev’s rivalry with Paulo Costa can cost him welterweight title shot as per Michael Bisping
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Khamzat Chimaev- Paulo Costa
Khamzat Chimaev might have a goal of opponents to conquer in his mind but aspirations don’t sail smoothly in reality without a couple of obstacles, Paulo Costa might be just that one obstacle. Chimaev is an undefeated UFC fighter who is coming off a huge win at UFC 279 by finishing fellow welterweight Kevin Holland in a catchweight bout inside the first round via submission. This is a massive submission win under someone who is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Chimaev is doing rounds as the major face of MMA news lately not because of only his performance but also his weigh in miss at UFC 279 that cost him losing a main event fight against Nate Diaz. But there’s also another aspect to Chimaev being in the headlines, he is making a lot of famous heads ponder on just how good is the Chechen-Swedish MMA fighter, this includes UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping. In one his latest videos, Bisping talks about how Chimaev is on the verge of getting distracted by UFC middleweight and rival Paulo Costa which cost Chimaev literally his dreams.
“There’s a potential that he [Chimaev] could become a three-division champion, he still needs to avoid Paulo Costa,” says Bisping. “Paulo is setting a trap, he is trying to bait him, he is trying to get… because if [Chimaev] does that, he is now fighting for the 185 lbs belt because if he has to become a 2-weight division champion, or a three weight division champion, he’s got to start 170 lbs…[or else] 170 will seem like a distant memory…” continues Bisping.
Paulo Costa vs Khamzat Chimaev: A Retrospective of their UFC careers
Paulo Costa is one of the most dangerous fighters in the middleweight division right now. He has a forward pressure style of striking and can handle most of the division on the ground, especially on the top. Costa has wins over the likes of former champions such as Yoel Romero, Luke Rockhold and Johny Hendricks. Other wins include Uriah Hall. Costa, although 1-2 in his last three fights, looks to have found the right mindset and training to stay in the middleweight for long run as well.
Chimaev is also one of the most dangerous fighters right now. He came into the UFC in 2020 and won 2 fights in just a span of 10 days, both via finishes. Then he knocked out longtime UFC fighter Gerald Meerschaert in just 17 seconds. Followed by a first-round submission win over Li Jingliang. Chimaev’s fight with Gilbert Burns showed the heart he needs to become a world champion and his last fight earned him another sweeping win. Chimaev has only been hit twice in 5 of his 6 UFC fights.
Chimaev and Costa did some back and forth on Twitter since the latter has been interested in challenging the former for a decent amount of time. During the fight week of UFC 279, Costa confronted Chimaev at the UFC Performance institute but the verbal altercation didn’t escalated because of the team involvement. Now the virtually confrontational trash talking is going on the internet so far. Who do you think wins if they ever fight?
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Abhai Singh Tanwar
(1386 Articles Published)