Paulo Costa still plans on stepping inside the Octagon at UFC 294 despite undergoing elbow surgery three weeks ago.
On October 21, ‘The Eraser’ is scheduled for a potential middleweight title eliminator with undefeated Chechen monster Khamzat Chimaev in Abu Dhabi. However, the bout now appears to be in question after Costa underwent elbow surgery after contracting an infection.
Costa is currently on the mend and made an appearance on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani to address the status of his fight with ‘The Wolf’ which is expected to go down in less than two weeks.
“I just came to let the fans know that I’m ready to fight,” Costa said. “I did not ask the UFC for anything. The UFC is doing their job very good. They’re supporting me a lot. They didn’t mention anything about removing me from the fight. I’ve heard nothing about this. I know you have a big audience so I felt it was important to reach out to everyone on your show.
Paulo Costa: I just came to let the fans know I'm ready to fight.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/YYkVW0jXKJ
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) October 9, 2023
Coach Eric Believes Chimaev Went Too Far by DMing Paulo Costa’s Girlfriend
Things have been relatively quiet between Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev, but that quickly changed earlier this week when ‘The Eraser’ revealed that Chimaev had sent his girlfriend and manager a DM, making fun of the one-time UFC title challenger and questioning her decision to date him.
I gonna report this harassment by Gourmet Chen Chen towards my girlfriend/future mother of my childres and manager. I felt threatened by this handsome guy calling her on dm
🥲 please @Tamaraalves2 Don't be fooled by that beautiful face 🙏🏼🧃 inshala pic.twitter.com/ImCOLF1qQ7— Paulo Costa ( Borrachinha ) (@BorrachinhaMMA) October 6, 2023
Costa’s coach, Eric Albarracin, didn’t take kindly to the comments being sent to his fighter’s future wife and went full Paul Heyman on ‘Borz’ while appearing with Costa on The MMA Hour.
“We’ve been in Abu Dhabi for a month and this is the biggest fight in the history of the UAE. And let me tell you, I tried to take the high ground because Dominick Cruz… As you know, Aljamain [Sterling] brought it up on your show, confronted me about hyping up fights for my fighters,” Albarracin said. “But Khamzat has stepped over the line by DM’ing Paulo’s manager and future wife about Israel’s vulgar act against Paulo and I disapprove 100% and he has awakened the Paul Heyman in the captain.
“Now let me tell team Khazamt, you’re fighting a different type of beast incarnate to be saying things like that and now at UFC 294, you shall be beaten, victimized, and conquered by Paulo Costa. And the only logical reason he’s still undefeated is because he decided to not show off his skill against Nate Diaz. Yes, we came to enemy territory. Yes, we came to your country. We trained at your new gym. The Khabib gym.
“Paulo’s going to beat you in Etihad Arena that your king owns. This isn’t the first time Paulo’s been thrown to the wolves. The UFC threw him to Johny Hendricks, former NCAA Division I champion. They threw him against Olympic silver medalist Yoel Romero. You fought former UFC champion Luke Rockhold, and every time they threw him to the wolves, he’s become the leader of the pack.”
Coach Eric promo. 🔥#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/LSasMdpFOM
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) October 9, 2023
Albarracin also laid down a WWE-style challenge to Chimaev, suggesting that the winner at UFC 294 moves on to a middleweight title clash with reigning champion Sean Strickland while the loser leaves the UAE forever.
Could we see the first-ever Loser Leaves Town Match inside the Octagon at UFC 294? No, probably not, but Albarracin is more than confident in Paulo Costa’s ability to defeat Khamzat Chimaev, even if he only has one good arm.
“Even with one arm behind his back, it’s not Paulo locked in a cage with ‘The Wolf.’ It’s Khamzat who will be locked in a cage with Paulo,” he added.
Watch the full interview below:
