UFC 294 draws Paulo Costa vs. Khamzat Chimaev

Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev will meet in a middleweight bout at UFC 294 on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi.  The fight promotion made the announcement on Wednesday evening.  

Costa (14-2) last fought in August 2022, defeating Luke Rockhold by decision.  The win broke a two-fight skid.  

Chimaev (12-0) is coming off a win over Kevin Holland at UFC 279 last October in a catchweight match.  Chimaev badly missed weight during the weigh-in and forced a shuffling of the entire main card.  He was originally supposed to face Nate Diaz.  

While his last fight was a catchweight match because he failed to make weight, Chimaev bounces back and forth between middleweight and welterweight.  He was last scheduled to compete as a middleweight in September 2020.