“Chimaev wants to beat Alex in Rio,” the Brazilian told Submission Radio. “He is smart. I think if he fights Alex it will be a problem for Alex because he doesn’t have grappling skills. MMA is very different from kickboxing. I suppose the bets will be against Alex if the fight takes place, but I don’t think he will lose because I don’t believe that this fight will be organized.”
Costa recalled that a few weeks ago he himself tried to get a middleweight fight with Chimaev, but Borz showed no interest in this fight.
“I tried to get a fight with Chimaev, called him a few weeks ago, but he said, ‘No, I’m still at welterweight, and I’m not going to middleweight.’ Now he saw a great opportunity to win the title easily.”
A few days earlier, Costa commented on the challenges that Chimaev posed to Pereira and Gilbert Burns as follows:
“If you are zero in grappling or under 170 cm tall, Chen Chen wants to fight you,” the Brazilian fighter wrote on the social network.
Recall that Alex Pereira, who owns the UFC middleweight title, accepted the challenge of Khamzat Chimaev, but said that he was ready to hold it only in the light heavyweight category.