On Wednesday, Dana White, the UFC President broke the news on UFC 294. It’s official that Khamzat Chimaev will be facing Paulo Costa in Abu Dhabi on October 21st as the co-main event in UFC 294. This is one of the most anticipated fights because both fighters have huge fan bases and in addition to this, both of these fighter’s resumes are nothing short of amazing.
Khamzat is currently undefeated in the UFC with a record of 12-0. Moreover, since making his debut in the UFC in 2020, he has ran through his opponents with ease apart from Gilbert Burns where he won via a unanimous decision. Khamzat, 29, has not fought since September 2022, where he absolutely dominated Kevin Holland with the bout ending via a submission.
Since then, there was a lot of speculations on which weight class he should fight in as he missed weight by 7.5 pounds at UFC 279 where he was supposed to fight Nate Diaz but instead ended up fighting Kevin Holland. It seems that he has decided to go up a weight class to face Paulo Costa at Middleweight.
Paulo Costa, 32, is no joke either. He has an impressive record of 14-2, with wins over Luke Rockhold, Yoel Romero and more. Costa was last seen in the Octagon in August 2022 where he managed to secure a win over Luke Rockhold. Before that bout, he lost back to back to the Middleweight Champion Izzy and Marvin Vettori. Therefore, a win over Chimaev would put him on a two fight winning streak.
It will be amazing to see how this bout will play out. What are your thoughts on this card?
If Paulo Costa keeps a close range and is explosive , he has a higher chance of winning.