‘He’s going to have…’ Khamzat Chimaev’s old rival makes bold claim on potential UFC title fight

‘Real middleweight’ Paulo Costa says Khamzat Chimaev won’t hold him down

UFC 319 was Chimaev’s third-straight fight at middleweight (185 lbs).

Prior to du Plessis, Chimaev fought welterweights or former welterweights in Robert Whittaker, Kamaru Usman, Kevin Holland, and Gilbert Burns.

While Chimaev has dominated middleweights before, ranked contender Paulo Costa says ‘Borz’ will struggle against bigger fighters like himself.

“He dominate Dricus, but he could not do the same thing that he used to do against welterweights,” Costa said on the Ariel Helwani Show.

“Like, maul the guys, finish the guys…

“When he face a real middleweight, a really heavy middleweight, he’s going to have some problems,” Costa claimed.

“He’s going to look boring [against du Plessis]. All the other fights he was in exciting fight. Even Whittaker. Whittaker is kind of fast, super high-level, but not strong enough to stop a guy like him.

“Dricus is a real middleweight in my opinion…

“I know how to handle these guys,” Costa said of Chimaev.

“Remember my fight against [Yoel] Romero. Romero is a high-level wrestler and very good also. And he couldn’t put me down. He tried like four or five times. He put me [down] once at the end of the second round, like 10 seconds to finish. But he couldn’t keep me there.

“When I fight Khamzat, the same gonna happen. He could not hold me down. Even if he took me down. I don’t think I’m gonna stay on my feet the whole time against him. I think he can put me down, but he will not keep me there.”

Paulo Costa shows how he’ll beat Khamzat Chimaev

Costa is currently ranked #12 in the UFC middleweight division, so it’s unlikely he’ll be getting a title opportunity anytime soon, despite his history with Chimaev.

Costa was booked to face Chimaev in the co-main event of UFC 294 in Oct. 2023 but had a serious staph infection that forced him to withdraw.

If they were to be rebooked in the future, Costa says he’d defend Chimaev’s takedowns by kneeing his head repeatedly.

Chimaev’s takedown defense rate is 80% in the UFC.