Costa Announces Timeline For UFC Return

“He looks weak to me, he looks lame, he looks skinny. He doesn’t look good. He doesn’t fight good. What I can say for a guy who is scared?” —Paulo Costa

Former middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa was too injured to compete against 185-pound rival Khamzat Chimaev in the UFC 294 pay-per-view (PPV) co-main event last weekend in Abu Dhabi, but that didn’t stop “The Eraser” from fighting.

Fortunately, no guns were involved.

While Costa was mixing it up with the hometown heavies, Chimaev was battling former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman, who stepped up to replace Costa on less than two weeks’ notice, in a three-round battle that ended in favor of “Borz.”

“It was a horrible fight, in my opinion, for Chimaev,” Costa told Submission Radio. “I think Usman did what he could do. Usman was very short notice. You know, nine, ten days training. And you need to fly to Abu Dhabi. You don’t have time to train. So, I think Chimaev messed with his opportunity to fight for the title. I don’t think he gonna fight for the title next, because Usman is not a legit middleweight. He was a 170 pounds, very good fighter, we know. But with no proper training camp, he did very well, I think. I mean, Khamzat barely beat him. In my opinion, it was a draw, or at least draw. People are I saying 10-8 in the first round for Gourmet Chen Chen, but either way, even that the second, the third round was for Usman, in my opinion.”

The oddsmakers booked Chimaev as the massive betting favorite but much like his performance against Gilbert Burns at UFC 273, the fight was much closer than expected. In fact, a potential five-round contest may have ended in favor of Usman.

Blame this injury?

“And I think if Usman had a little bit more time to train, like, three weeks, he would have beat him for sure,” Costa continued. “So, I truly believe, to be honest, to be fair, you need to fight a legit middleweight to be able to deserve something. So, I’m here, right here. So, why not? I will be able to fight in December. You can do this in December or January. I don’t know, I think December is time enough. I have been training for this fight for entire year since January when UFC contacted me about the fight. And yeah, I don’t need too much time. Just finish to healing this arm and jump in the training camp for five weeks is enough for me. I’m ready.”

Costa recently had surgery on his elbow after a nasty battle with staph infection. Upon his late 2023 (or early 2024) return, “The Eraser” wants to settle his score with Khamzat and make a definitive statement about his place among the middleweight contenders.

“He always does the same thing,” Costa said. “He has no other way to fight. He just rushes in the first round and expends his whole energy. He looks like a dead man in the second and third round. His way to fight, is if he cannot finish the guy in the first round, he’s done. He’s soft. Truly, he’s soft. He’s weak, and he’s not enough for the legit 185 guy, big guy like me. Monster. He looks weak to me, he looks lame, he looks skinny. He doesn’t look good. He doesn’t fight good. What I can say for a guy who is scared? He’s just scared. I want to fight him since January and he try avoid, he call everybody else but not me. Because he knows, his team knows, all the coach knows about that. His manager knows, everybody knows I’m the worst scenario for him. Worst fighter, worst match-up. But this is the fight that people want to see.”

For more UFC 294 results and fallout click here.