Paulo Costa can set his sights firmly on Khamzat Chimaev now.
Heading into his UFC 318 co-main event duel with Roman Kopylov, Costa made it no secret he wants to fight Chimaev soon. Costa earned a convincing unanimous decision nod over Kopylov and afterwards, he told reporters his plans haven’t changed, especially after Chimaev took a personal jab at him on Twitter.
Responding to the claim that he reached out to Costa’s girlfriend through private messages, Chimaev tweeted, “It was she who wrote to me.” Costa addressed Chimaev’s comment at Saturday’s post-fight presser.
“He is lying,” Costa said. “If the UFC allows me, I will be there in Chicago in a few weeks.”
Chicago is the site of UFC 319, which takes place Aug. 16 and features Chimaev challenging Dricus du Plessis for the middleweight title. If Costa has his way, he’ll be seated cageside, ready to call for a bout with Chimaev regardless of the result.
Costa has been so fired up about a potential Chimaev fight, he was asked if the feud had him rattled at Thursday’s press conference, but Costa denied that was the case.
“First of all, people say I was shaking,” Costa said. “I was not sick or nothing, I didn’t use any powder or something like that. I just was very motivated, very focused, very locked in this fight [with Kopylov]. In the backstage I was telling to myself, yelling to myself the whole time, ‘This is work. Go to work. Do your thing. You need this victory. I will not be back without this victory. This is mine. I’m gone.’ So I was locked in, 100 percent focused on this fight, this match. I knew this was a very tough opponent.
[UFC executive] Hunter [Campbell] told me, ‘Paulo, this is a great matchup.’ I was the co-main event. Even Marvin [Vettori] and [Brendan] Allen, they are above me in the ranks, but we are here in the co-main event because the UFC knows this would be a great matchup, a great fight, a great comeback from me. So I put too much concentration on this fight and this victory.”
It was a much-needed win for Costa, who was coming off of back-to-back losses to Sean Strickland and Robert Whittaker and had just one win in his five previous bouts. The one-time UFC title challenger put on a sharp performance, out-striking Kopylov for three rounds to record his first victory since 2022.
Costa credited his coaches for helping him overhaul his strategy and get back on the winning track.
“I had two losses to Whittaker and Strickland,” Costa said. “These two hurt me because I was there. I could perform better, but my game plan, my strategy was not good. I was bouncing and countering instead of going forward. The coach over here, these three coaches, these guys changed my mentality, my game plan.
“They said, ‘Paulo, you are the hunter. You are the bully. You need to go forward, pressure, put your hands and kicks, they are so strong, maybe the most strong in the whole division.’ So that was that and here I am.”
