Paulo Costa has major beef with newly-crowned Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion, Khamzat Chimaev. But other than them running into each other in a parking lot (or at the UFC Apex), that’s a fight that will likely not happen anytime soon.
That said, Costa wouldn’t mind getting the next best matchup available, which would be against Dricus du Plessis, the man Chimaev defeated at UFC 319 (rather handily) to win the 185-pound strap. During a recent interview with Submission Radio
(via MMA Junkie), “Borrachinha” revealed that fight is at the top of his wish list, as opposed to a possible rematch with Israel Adesanya.
“Dricus better because he is fresh from the belt,” Costa admitted. “He’s so unpredictable. He’s a tough guy to fight, to be honest. Khamzat Chimaev knew that – that’s why he hold him for so long. Even in the fifth round, Dricus was still dangerous, and Chimaev was afraid to fight him. He just held the guy for 25 minutes. Horrible.”
Indeed, there were many who weren’t too thrilled with the grapple-heavy offense Chimaev utilized to get the job done in Chicago. That said, it’s all a part of the mixed martial arts (MMA) fight game, and until someone can stop him you can bet Chimaev will keep using it to his advantage.
As for a possible timeline for a potential scrap against “Stillknocks,” Costa says he wouldn’t mind for a potential year-end event. According to the hulking Brazilian, who is coming off a win over Roman Kopylov at UFC 318 this past summer, he and the powers that be at UFC are now seeing eye-to-eye, which means nothing but good things for his prospective fight offers.
“Potentially (November, December), that would be a great fight,” Costa said of facing Du Plessis. “A huge fight. I stopped fighting the UFC. Now we are friends. Now we are partners. I said this to Hunter (Campbell), and Dana (White). They’re going to bring a good match, a fun match. I’m 100 percent on that.”
The only hurdle that could possibly prevent this fight from happening is the fact that Costa is ranked all the way down at No. 13, while du Plessis is sitting comfortably in the No. 1 spot, so many would likely consider it a big step down for “Stillknocks.”
