Video: UFC 279’s Khamzat Chimaev restrained during heated altercation with Paulo Costa — ‘He froze’

If welterweight contender Khamzat Chimaev ever makes his return to middleweight, former 185-pound title challenger Paulo Costa will be waiting.

The fight MMA fans never knew they needed almost went down on Monday at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas, after Chimaev tried to rush “The Eraser” for talking smack about “Borz” on social media.

Costa remains unimpressed.

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“I met Chimaev there, and man, he was scared,” the Brazilian said. “The guy stood there and he froze. He froze. I actually was not surprised. As I said before, cupcake Chechen, gourmet Chechen is a bully with small guys... Just so you know, Chimaev, I don’t need to have a couple of guys with me. I’m an army of one man. I walk alone and I can beat you alone with just one hand.”

Costa was training with former UFC welterweight Jake Shields, in town to help teammate Nate Diaz prepare for Chimaev in the UFC 279 pay-per-view (PPV) main event this Sat. night (Sept. 10, 2022) at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Shields dropped his own account of the altercation here.

“He called me to talk and I went there, I faced him,” Costa continued. “He said, ‘Hey Borrachinha, why do you talk about me?’ I said, ‘Man, what did I talk about you? You want to fight me?’ He said, ‘No, no – I want to know what you talk about me.’ I said, ‘Man, I want to fight you. If you beat Nate Diaz, I want to fight you,’ and he froze. He said, ‘Okay, so let’s fight now.’ His whole team got in the middle between me and him. Man, this guy is scared. He’s scared as fuck.”

A victory over Diaz may not result in a welterweight title shot because the promotion is more interested in booking a rubber match between Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman, which means Chimaev can follow through on this promise and take another fight in the interim.

As of this writing, Costa remains unbooked.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 279 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

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