Paulo Costa Warns Khamzat Chimaev About Light Heavyweight Move

Paulo Costa has never been shy with his words, and now he’s pointed them straight back at an old rival.

The Brazilian contender has reignited his feud with Khamzat Chimaev, warning the undefeated star that a rumored leap to light heavyweight would end badly for him.

Costa’s timing is no accident. Once written off after his failed title bid against Israel Adesanya at UFC 253 and a brutal run of four losses in five, “Borrachinha” has dragged his career out of the mire. That defeat to Adesanya shattered his unbeaten record and seemed to shatter his confidence with it. He beat a retiring Luke Rockhold, but little else went right. The aura went. The momentum went. For a while, it looked like the career might go with them.

So he walked away.

A year out of the cage gave Costa space to reset. When he returned, he did not drift back quietly. He tore through Roman Kopylov, then delivered the kind of statement finish fighters dream about: a vicious head-kick knockout of previously unbeaten Azamat Murzakanov in his true light heavyweight debut. That April performance felt like a line in the sand. Costa wasn’t just back; he belonged at 205.

Since then, he hasn’t fought. But he has been watching. And plotting.

Now his attention has locked onto Chimaev, the restless contender linked with a move to light heavyweight. Costa, speaking to Mr. Gamble, made it clear he sees opportunity where others might see danger.

“I think that would be great for me,” Costa said. “It would be wonderful for him? I don't think it would be very good, no.”

The message is blunt: Chimaev at 205 is prey, not predator.

Costa then drew a pointed comparison. He likened Chimaev’s possible jump in weight to Alex Pereira’s unsuccessful attempt to move up to heavyweight, highlighting what he sees as a physical mismatch.

“I think for him it would be like Alex moving up to heavyweight, you know? I think the proportion is something similar, isn't it? The body type. I don't know. I think they're very light.”

In Costa’s eyes, the math doesn’t work for Chimaev. The frame, the size, the power at 205 – all of it, he suggests, would tilt against the Chechen-Swedish star in the same way it did for Pereira when he tried to test himself one division too far.

For a man who has rebuilt his career at light heavyweight, this is more than trash talk. It’s a challenge wrapped in a warning. If Chimaev really does come hunting at 205, Costa is already waiting, convinced that the move that’s supposed to elevate his rival could instead be the one that breaks him.