Paulo Costa says he's badgering UFC for another shot at Khamzat Chimaev; gives return timeline with two huge call-outs

Paulo Costa is eager to return to the cage and wants to fight one of the UFC's hottest stars.

The current middleweight contender and former ranked welterweight Khamzat Chimaev is in the crosshairs of the hulking Brazilian bruiser for a rebooked return bout in the new year.

Paulo Costa's UFC return has been steadily awaited by MMA fans of all sorts for months now.

The Paulo Costa injury that pulled him out of the initial Khamzat Chimaev fight booking was because of a serious staph infection Costa had. The image of the infection posted by the former middleweight title contender painted a visceral picture, and it was understandable that he had to withdraw from the fight.

Costa versus Chimaev was set to transpire at UFC 294 in October. Kamaru Usman took the former's place and lost to the latter via a unanimous decision.

On his personal X account @BorrachinhaMMA, Costa said:

"I have been persistently telling the UFC to reschedule this fight for UFC Saudi Arabia, I can’t see a best main event of 5 rounds for it right now cause it’s make sense in Middle East. I would love beat his ass over there . but it’s looks like gourmet chenchen doesn't want that smoke 💨"

Check out Costa's Chimaev callout for a 2024 contest below:

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Paulo Costa and his recent octagon inactivity

Despite his consistently funny ways online, Costa was actually inactive from UFC competition for all of 2023. So it makes sense why he has been so intentional bout wanting to have an active campaign for 2024 as the new year looms ever closer.

Other than the Khamzat Chimaev fight in the fall, there was a purported summer contest for Costa that never came to fruition. Ikram Aliskerov versus Paulo Costa at UFC 291 in July was put out there in promotional material, but one of the parties within this middleweight matchup says it was smoke and mirrors.

Costa posited that the Alsikerov bout announcement was a hard negotiation tactic by the UFC, and he verbatim said there was a 99 percent chance it wouldn't happen in a past appearance on The MMA Hour.

Prior to the pair of prizefights that fell out last year, the last time Costa stepped into the cage was in August 2022. Costa bested former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold by way of a unanimous decision at UFC 278.