LAS VEGAS – Khamzat Chimaev doesn’t see a reason to fight Paulo Costa.
Earlier this week, Chimaev (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) was involved in an altercation with Costa at the UFC Performance Institute, where Chimaev had to be held back by his team.
Costa (13-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC), who has one fight left on his UFC deal, wants to settle the score with Chimaev, but “Borz” is not interested.
“Why (should I fight him)?” Chimaev told reporters, including MMA Junkie, at Wednesday’s UFC 279 media day. “I don’t fight with that guy. Already somebody f*cked him up in the ass.
“Israel (Adesanya) f*cked his ass. So what? All the world saw that sh*t. He has to go back and do something easy.”
Chimaev was referring to Costa’s title-fight loss to middleweight champion Adesanya at UFC 257, when he was stopped and taunted after the fight.
Costa accused Chimaev of being scared, but Chimaev brushed off his confrontation with the Brazilian.
“(It was) nothing – he was talking sh*t about me,” Chimaev said. “I never talked about that guy – maybe once or something. He wants to be famous now.”
Chimaev returns in Saturday’s UFC 279 main event when he meets Nate Diaz (20-13 MMA, 15-11 UFC) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPNews and early prelims on ESPN+.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 279.
