Tonight we learned that UFC 294 will be headlined by the rematch between Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira. Dana White also announced an absolute banger in the middleweight division as former title challenger Paulo Costa (14-2) takes on Khamzat Chimaev (12-0).
Costa was originally supposed to fight at UFC 291, but the promotion pivoted and now they’ve booked this fight against Chimaev. Costa last fought last August when he took on Luke Rockhold. It turned into a sloppy but entertaining fight with Costa getting his hand raised.
It was Costa’s first win since 2019 when he defeated Yoel Romero. Prior to that, he had been stopped by Israel Adesanya and lost a decision to Marvin Vettori. Now, he’ll try to win his second in a row by derailing the UFC’s hype train Khamzat Chimaev.
UFC 294
Khamzat Chimaev hasn’t fought since he took on Kevin Holland on one-day’s notice at UFC 279. Originally, Chimaev was supposed to fight Nate Diaz at 170 pounds which would’ve set him up for a potential welterweight title fight had he won.
However, Chimaev missed weight horribly and the UFC changed the fights the day before the event. Chimaev steamrolled Holland and submitted him in the first round to move to 6-0 in the promotion. Chimaev is officially moving to the middleweight division.
With an impressive performance, he’s going to be right in the title picture.
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