Khamzat Chimaev responds to Paulo Costa's allegations

Undefeated middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev responded to allegations made by Paulo Costa and denied sending the Brazilian's wife DMs. 

Following his UFC 318 win over Roman Kopylov, Costa took aim at Chimaev in his post-fight interview. 

"Everybody knows that I hate that guy. Everybody knows who. That motherf***er Khamzat Chimaev. He's a big a**hole," Costa said to the crowd inside Smoothie King Center on July 19.

"My wife is over here. He DM'd her. This is not good. This is a bad thing in every culture. He said bad things about me, about her, but he never sent to me because he's a coward," continued Costa. "Chimaev, you are a coward. And I'm here and I'm going to look for you. I'm going to chase for you, and I will not stop until I get to you." 

During a media scrum on Wednesday to promote his UFC 319 title fight against champion Dricus Du Plessis, Chimaev denied Costa's allegations. 

"Why should I DM somebody's wife?," Chimaev asked. "She DM before the fight like when I announced the fight like, 'Khamzat, please don't take it seriously. We're just trying to make money and hype.' I don't care what they are, just going to f**k your boy up, and that's it. And then he takes it all personally and stuff. I don't care."

Needless to say, the two do not like each other. They had a verbal altercation at the UFC PI in 2022 and regularly take shots at each other on social media. It's a fight Costa wants but Chimaev doubts will happen anytime soon. 

"Bro, I beat the guys who beat him," Chimaev said. "Maybe in the future if he wins a couple of fights, but I don't think he will do that. In the last five years, he's only won one fight."