There’s been another major shake-up for this month’s UFC 294 PPV card.
Less than a day after news broke that Charles Oliveira was out of his fight against Islam Makhachev, replaced by featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski, another key player is off the card. After previously revealing that he had underwent elbow surgery recently, Paulo Costa is also out of his highly anticipated match-up with Khamzat Chimaev.
He’s been replaced by former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
Word of the fight potentially being switched up was confirmed by UFC President and CEO Dana White during Tuesday’s DWCS post-fight press conference, following the end of season 7 of the fighting series. On Wednesday, White announced Usman’s involvement on his Instagram page.
“Costa’s hurt, all the rumors that are flying around, we got it done,” exclaimed White. “The number four welterweight in the world Khamzat Chimaev is moving up to middleweight, and he will face the number one welterweight in the world, Kamaru Usman.”
Chimaev (12-0) has not fought since a September 2022 win over Kevin Holland that came at a 180 pound catchweight. That’s after “Borz,” long one of the UFC’s fastest-rising stars, badly blew weight for a welterweight fight with Nate Diaz.
After setting a record for the quickest turnaround in UFC history in his first year with the company (since broken by Da’Mon Blackshear and Loopy Godinez), Chimaev has fought sporadically — just once in 2021, twice last year, and in all likelihood, once this year. He also struggled with a serious battle against COVID-19 that briefly had it looking like his career might be over. Through all of that, he has yet to lose a fight.
Usman (20-3) has not competed since losing the rubber match of his trilogy with Leon Edwards at UFC 286 this past March. Prior to losing his title to the Brit, then dropping the rematch, “The Nigerian Nightmare” had strung together a 19-fight win streak.
Costa shed more light into the situation on Wednesday, revealing he had a bacterial infection. Doctors, he added, were pulling him from the fight. News of Costa being out of the fight was originally reported by the OverDogs podcast.
I go resume : I got Staphylococcus bacteria inside my elbow and doctors is pulling me out the Fight
— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) October 11, 2023
UFC 294 takes place in Abu Dhabi, UAE on October 21, 2023 will the following fights reported for the event:
- Islam Makhachev (c) vs. Alexander Volkanovski — for the UFC lightweight championship
- Kamaru Usman vs. Khamzat Chimaev
- Magomed Ankalaev vs. Johnny Walker
- Said Nurmagomedov vs. Muin Gafurov
- Tim Elliott vs. Muhammad Mokaev
- Mohammad Yahya vs. Trevor Peek
- Javid Basharat vs. Victor Henry
- Abu Azaitar vs. Sedriques Dumas
- Mike Breeden vs. Anshul Jubli
- Nathaniel Wood vs. Muhammad Naimov
- Victoria Dudakova vs. Jinh Yu Frey
- Sharabutdin Magomedov vs. Bruno Silva
- Ikram Aliskerov vs. Warlley Alves
