Paulo Costa: Khamzat Chimaev only fights small guys he can bully: 'I'm the biggest UFC middleweight'

Paulo Costa doubts Khamzat Chimaev wants to fight him, mainly because of his size.

Costa (13-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) was involved in an altercation with Chimaev at the UFC Performance Institute earlier during UFC 279 fight week, where Chimaev had to be held back by his team.

Chimaev (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) dismissed a potential fight with Costa and the Brazilian accused “Borz” of only fighting smaller guys, referring to his last win over Gilbert Burns at UFC 273.

“I know you just want to fight small guys, short guys, shy guys like Burns,” Costa told The MacLife. “Guys who you can beat and be a bully, but I’m not. I’m a big one, I’m the biggest middleweight in the UFC so you cannot bully me. When you show up, I will be here, ready for you because you are a ‘Gourmet Chechen,’ you are a fake gangster so that’s it.

“I know this guy don’t want this fight. He will try and fight somebody else who has no grappling, no jiu-jitsu, no wrestling. I have nothing more to say about that guy. I’m fresh, I can fight him with just one hand because it’s broken, but I don’t care man.”

Costa has one fight remaining on his UFC contract. He’s definitely open to Chimaev, who meets Nate Diaz in Saturday’s UFC 279 headliner at T-Mobile Arena. But if not Chimaev, Costa has other options in mind.

“We have Robert Whittaker, he’s a great fight,” Costa said. “Chimaev would be good because I’d like to beat his ass, but we have a couple of nice fights coming up.”

He continued, “I have my business to do with Israel (Adesanya) and I will face him very soon. But Chimaev, you don’t need to call somebody to help you. Just me and you – I know, you’re scared. So shut up and do your thing, call to fight these shorter guys because you can’t handle me.”