New Orleans — Paulo Costa was supposed to fight in Las Vegas last month as part of Intentional Fight Week, only to see his bout with Roman Kopylov pushed back from UFC 317 to UFC 318.
During Wednesday’s UFC 318 media day, Costa (14-4) opened up about the delay, the fight, and his beef with Khamzat Chimaev while speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press.
“I got very sick. I don’t know exactly, it’s a kind of virus, but I could not train for like two weeks,” Costa explained when asked about the reason behind his fight being postponed. “I was very, very sick. I never before got a virus so hard like that.”
Costa’s team contacted the UFC, and they offered him a spot on the next big fight card once the Brazilian was cleared. That brings him to UFC 318, where Dustin Poirier will compete in his retirement fight opposite Max Holloway. An upgrade, one Costa was happy to get. Sort of.
“Yes. When I looked for this card and I see great names, I’m a fan of these guys, Max and Dustin. And they upgrade me to the co-main event, so I feel good,” he stated. “But at the same time, I will not lie to you, I would like to fight in Las Vegas, in the [International] Fight Week, but it was not possible.”
Still, Costa believes a higher power has a plan for him. “I’m happy. I’m happy because everything happens for a reason. I didn’t understand it at the time, but I believe God has a plan for everything, so okay, I accept [it].”
As for Kopylov, many have commented on the lack of name value the Russian brings with him. Considering Costa fought Israel Adesanya for gold, and has competed against Sean Strickland, Robert Whittaker, Luke Rockhold, Yoel Romero and others, it’s a fair criticism. Costa, however, is treating Kopylov like all those other big names.
“He’s the guy that I need to beat, so I’m focused on him. It doesn’t matter who he is or what he did before, what legacy he has or not.” Costa believes that with a “big victory on Saturday,” he’ll jump back up the middleweight division. “Back to the confrontation with the biggest, biggest names in the [division]. So I don’t care too much for him [Kopylov].”
Khamzat Chimaev is the name Paulo Costa truly wants, however. Chimaev is set to fight for middleweight gold next month, and the idea of a title shot against “Borz” would no doubt be of interest to Costa. Yet belt or no, that’s the fight Costa wants. It’s a personal matter, he went on to explain.
“I want to fight him very badly. I want to hurt him. It doesn’t matter if he won that fight or not. Doesn’t matter. We need to fight,” Costa exclaimed. “He talked very bad things about me on my girl’s Instagram DM. So this is totally personal. I feel angry just to hear his name. So we need to fight. We are young, we’re gonna be in line.”
Costa is “pretty sure” he’ll be getting the win this weekend, and then he plans to call Chimaev out afterwards. “Doesn’t matter if he wins or not. This fight just won’t happen if he retires.”
As to what Chimaev said in DMs to Costa’s girl, “dirt things,” he claimed, giving one example: “You should look for a better man, something like that.”
“Dirt things. It’s not the kind of thing a real man, a confident man would do. Why’d he message her? Why didn’t he message me instead of her, you know?” questioned Costa. “Coward, he’s a coward.”
Watch the full UFC 318 media day appearance by Paulo Costa above.
