Paulo Costa calls for title fight eliminator with Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 297: ‘Give me the Chechen for dinner’

One-time middleweight title challenger, Paulo Costa has once more called for a rescheduled fight with the undefeated, Khamzat Chimaev following their cancelled pairing at UFC 294 back in October, suggesting the duo should share the Octagon in January. 

Costa, the current number six ranked middleweight contender, was slated to feature in the co-main event of UFC 294 back in October against the surging, Chimaev, until a bursitis infection in his elbow forced his withdrawal from the bout on just 10 days’ notice in the Middle East.

Debuting at number nine in the official middleweight rankings off the back of his feature at the flagship event, Chimaev turned in a close, majority decision win over former titleholder, Kamaru Usman – with the latter making a short-notice move to the middleweight ranks.

Paulo Costa eyes title eliminator with Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 297

And tonight, the promotion have confirmed how a middleweight title fight between champion, Sean Strickland, and challenger, Dricus du Plessis is set to headline UFC 297 on January 20. in Toronto, Canada – leading to a definite call out from Costa to face Chimaev in the same month.

“Give me [the] Chechen for dinner in January with some secret juice,” Paulo Costa posted on his official X account. “There’s no reason to protect him from me, force him to sign it again, otherwise he gonna still ducking. Let’s go mtfk!”

Himself sidelined from the promotion since August of last year, Belo Horizonte native, Costa most recently snapped a two-fight losing run to former champion, Israel Adesanya, and Marvin Vettori – landing a unanimous decision win over former UFC middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold in Salt Lake City. 

Once fighting for undisputed middleweight gold during his Octagon tenure, Costa suffered a second round knockout loss to City Kickboxing staple, Adesanya back in September 2020 in the main event of UFC 253 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Who wins in a future fight: Paulo Costa or Khamzat Chimaev?