Khamzat Chimaev’s one-sided victory over Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 319 on August 16, 2025, made him the new middleweight champion, but not everyone was impressed. Paulo Costa, watching from home, blasted Chimaev’s wrestling-heavy performance as bad for MMA.

Khamzat Chimaev continued to brush off Paulo Costa. Costa (15-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) is eager to fight with Chimaev after accusing him of sending his wife "nasty" messages on Instagram. Chimaev denied ever doing that, but Costa still insists on settling his grudge with him.

UFC middleweight star Paulo Costa has given his thoughts on why, in his opinion, Khamzat Chimaev is bad for the sport of mixed martial arts.

Paulo Costa joins Ariel in-studio to react to Chimaev’s victory, talk about the UFC’s decision not to have him front row in Chicago, his game plan for a potential Chimaev fight, their past run-ins, making his acting debut,

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Khamzat Chimaev has finally given his side of the story of the accusations fellow UFC middleweight Paulo Costa made against him.

The UFC middleweight division has a new champion and his name is Khamzat Chimaev. The prolific wrestler from Chechnya rose to 15-0 with a dominant title win over South African champion Dricus du Plessis at UFC 319. Chimaev massively outgrappled du Plessis across five rounds to win a unanimous decision.

Paulo Costa returned to the win column with a strong performance against Roman Kopylov in the UFC 318 co-main event.

Previously, during the UFC 318 Media Day, Costa had revealed that Chimaev sent ‘dirty things’ to his partner on Instagram. According to the Brazilian, things are more personal now, and he ...

Chimaev achieved what felt like a long-awaited and inevitable coronation when he entered his first career title tilt against the now-former champion Dricus du Plessis this past Saturday in Chicago. As usual with "Borz," it was another pillar-to-post domination that dethroned du Plessis via a unanimous decision.