One of UFC’s top welterweight contenders Khamzat Chimaev got into a bit of trash talking with Middleweight contender Paulo Costa at the UFC Performance Institute ahead of a showdown with Nate Diaz at UFC 279 in Las Vegas.
Video footage shows Chimaev confront Costa, who was training with Diaz’s teammate Jake Shields, asking him, “You want to f*** me up? Did you say you wanna f*** me up, yeah? Did you say you wanna f*** me up?”
Costa replies, “Do you want to fight me?”
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Chimaev replied, “No, I said. You said in an interview—” Costa then interjected, “I want to fight you. Do you want to fight me?”
Khamzat then bluntly replied, ” I want to f*** you up right now.” Costa answers, “Okay.” Khamzat then tells Costa, “Yes, come on. Come down.” Costa then appears to go to a gate, but a number of other people advise him from exiting the cage.
Khamzat then berates Costa saying, “You’re a Brazillian p***y.” He then mocks Costa’s fight with Israel Adesanya back in 2020 when he was knocked out in the second round. “Hey, what happened with Israel? He f***ed your a**.” Costa replies, “I want to fight you.” Khamzat continues, “He f***ed your a**, yeah?
The video then cuts to Khamzat being somewhat held back by his entourage as he shouts at Costa, “I am here. You said you were gonna f*** me up. I am here. When I’m here, you’re a p***y. You’re a p***y when I’m here.”
“You like when someone f*** you in the a**, yeah? Israel f***ed you, brother. Israel f***ed you in the a**. You liked that? Yeah, I know you liked that you piece of s***.”
After walking down the stairs Chimaev tells his entourage, “When I comes, they become chickens. And he like don’t see me. I say right there he don’t come and f*** me up. He said he want to f*** me up, I stay there.”
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Costa shared his version of events to his own YouTube channel telling his viewers that Chimaev was “scared.” “The guy stood there and froze,” Costa added. “He froze, man.”
“I actually was not surprised,” Costa continued. “As I said before cupcake Chechen. Gourmet Chechen. He’s a bully with small guys and shine guys, not big guys like me.”
Costa went on to break down the entire interaction, “I was there with Jake Shields and as you guys know Jake Shield is Nate Diaz’s jiu-jitsu coach and was practicing, doing some techniques. And Chimaev was there too with his team.
“He was finishing, he went to watch our train,” Costa explained. “And he stood there for a couple minutes. I don’t know how much minutes, like 10, just watching with his whole team. I think to learn some techniques from us, I don’t know. Maybe he’s worried about Nate Diaz’s jiu-jitsu.”
Costa continued, “And he said my name like, ‘Hey Borrachinha.’ And he called me to talk and I went there immediately and I went there I faced, he said, ‘Hey Borrachinha, why do you talk about me?’ I say, “Man, why do I talk about you. Do you want to fight me?’ He said, ‘No, no, I want to know why you talk about me?’ I said, ‘Man, I want to fight you. If you beat Nate Diaz I want to fight you.’ And he froze. He said, ‘Okay, let’s fight now.’ And his whole go in the middle between me and him.
“Man, this guy is scared,” he aserted. “He’s scared as f***.”
Costa concluded his video with a message to Chimaev, “Just so you know Chimaev I don’t need to have a couple guys with me. I am an army of one man. I work alone and I can beat you alone with just one hand. You’re not enough.”
Costa won his last fight against Luke Rockhold via unanimous decision. The win broke a two fight losing streak that began with his loss to Adesanya. He also lost to Marvin Vettori back in October 2021.
Chimaev is undefeated in the Welterweight division. His last fight back in April he beat Gilbert Burns via unanimous decision. Before that he submitted Li Jingliang in October 2021. He quickly knocked out Gerald Meerschaert at UFC Fight Night in September 2020.
Chimaev is heavily favored in his match up against Diaz with oddsmakers currently giving him -1100 while Diaz has a +700.
Would you want to see Chimaev move up to Middleweight to fight Costa or Costa move down to Welterweight to fight Chimaev?
NEXT: Khamzat Chimaev On Facing Nate Diaz At UFC 279: “I Kill Him, You Know, And Kick Him Out”
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