MMA stars Paulo Costa and Khamzat ‘Borz’ Chimaev were expected to fight each other at middleweight in the co-Main event at UFC 294. However, the fight fell through after Costa had to have emergency surgery on his hand that ruled him of the fight.
The UFC kept Khamzat Chimaev on the card and got him a quick replacement fight with former middleweight champ Kamaru Usman who stepped up on short notice to fight Chimaev. Borz looked fantastic in the first round but then faded in the next couple of rounds but still went on to win the fight by decision.
UFC Gives Dricus du Plessis Title Shot
Khamzat Chimaev was eager to get a title shot at UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland but the UFC decided that his performance against Usman wasn’t good enough to get him a title shot. UFC President Dana White announced this week that Strickland will defend his belt against Dricus du Plessis at UFC 297 on Jan 20 in Canada.
With the UFC overlooking Chimaev for the title shot, Paulo Costa has called for the UFC to rebook his fight against Chimaev. The UFC and Chimaev are yet to respond to that callout!