“Obviously I’m focused on Israel this week, but I know that Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa want to fight me and they’ve never been disrespectful,” the Brazilian told reporters ahead of UFC 287. “They never showed no disrespect, unlike Chimaev, who talks too much and looks confused”
“Right after my last fight, he said he wanted to fight me at middleweight. It was right after the fight and he knew that I was injured. I didn’t have much time, I couldn’t make weight again, so I offered him a light heavyweight fight, but he ran away. To be honest, whether it’s Whittaker or Costa, whoever the organization puts up against me, my job as UFC champion is to go out and fight, but I don’t even want to talk about Chimaev.
A title fight between Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya will headline UFC 287 in Miami on April 8, while Khamzat Chimaev is rumored to face Paulo Costa on October 21 at UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi.