Paulo Costa promises finish of Khamzat Chimaev in UFC 294 grudge fight: ‘Honestly, this will be savage’
Ahead of his Octagon return at UFC 294 in October, one-time middleweight title challenger, Paulo Costa has promised a “savage” win over arch-rival, Khamzat Chimaev in their upcoming showdown – once more predicting a stoppage over the undefeated finisher.
Costa, the current number seven ranked middleweight contender, has been sidelined from active competition since he took main card status at UFC 278 back in August, landing a close, unanimous decision win over former middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold.
As for Chimaev, the Chechen-born contender improved to 12-0 as a professional back in September of last year at UFC 279, landing a first round D’Arce choke submission win over Kevin Holland.
Paulo Costa plots “savage” finish of Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294
Predicting various routes to victory over undefeated challenger, Chimaev in the Middle East, Costa has vowed to land a “savage” triumph over the former, insisting there is no way in which the AllStars MMA mainstay can win on ‘Fight Island’.
“I don’t see any chance of him (Khamzat Chimaev) winning the fight,” Paulo Costa told MMA Junkie. “Honestly, I’m being very honest. This will be savage. This will be fireworks. This will be wild. I bring my best, I will be there.”
“I think the winner of this fight is going to be the first for the title shot,” Paulo Costa explained. “I think the winner between me and Khamzat will be next in the line for the title shot.”
Prior to his win over former middleweight champion, Rockhold, Costa had suffered a pair of losses consecutively to Italian contender, Marvin Vettori, which followed a first professional loss in the form of a second round TKO loss to two-time division champion, Israel Adesanya back in 2020 – in the Brazilian’s first title challenge under the banner of the Dana White-led promotion.
