Khamzat Chimaev and Paulo Costa had a confrontation at the UFC Performance Institute earlier this week. UFC President Dana White shared his thoughts on this matter.
In a UFC 279 pre-fight press conference, White explained that sometimes these things happen in MMA. He said:
“Guys cross each other’s paths. These things happen sometimes. That’s the business that we’re in. At the PI they’re super sensitive to who’s training where and who’s doing what. But when you have a gym full of fighters who aren’t from necessarily the same- I’m sure they have that problem in the same camps, you know. It happens, that’s the business that we’re in … We’re in the fight business, this stuff happens … Fighters will be fighters, and those things are gonna happen. And we’ll deal with it.”
From the sounds of it, Dana White is not too concerned with the incident. Instead of worrying, he is utilizing a boys-will-be-boys attitude.
See below for Dana White’s full UFC 279 pre-fight press conference:
‘The Wolf’ Khamzat Chimaev is getting ready for his UFC 279 main event showdown against The Ultimate Fighter season five winner Nate Diaz. This will be a five-round non-title headlining bout which is likely to be Nate’s last in the UFC. The Russian-born fighter is undefeated thus far in the UFC.
Brazil’s Paulo Costa is just coming off a three-round war against former UFC World Champion Luke Rockhold at UFC 278, in which Costa was victorious. ‘Borrachinha’ currently has a broken hand and was rolling with former Strikeforce Champion Jake Shields.
See below for the unedited footage of the UFC PI altercation between these Khamzat Chimaev and Paulo Costa:
Khamzat Chimaev vs Paulo Costa at the UFC PI
The Russian-born welterweight Chimaev appeared to have approached the middleweight Costa and called him out for a fight at the UFC PI. It appears there was no issue between the two men. According to Paulo Costa, discussing the matter on his YouTube channel, this is his side of the story:
“He called me to talk and I went there, I faced him. 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. I you beat Nate Diaz, I want to fight you,’ and he froze. He said, ‘Ok, 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 f*ck. 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.” (Transcribed by MMA Junkie)
See below for Paulo Costa talking about Khamzat Chimaev UFC PI fight: