Paulo Costa may not at full strength heading into UFC 294, but that isn’t stopping him from putting it all on the line for his grudge match against Khamzat Chimaev.
Costa revealed late Sunday night on social media that he underwent surgery on his right elbow five weeks ahead of his scheduled Oct. 21 bout against Chimaev. Costa shared several grisly images of his injury and said he received 10 stitches to fix the damage in his elbow, prompting widespread concern that his co-headlining fight could be in jeopardy.
So is Costa still fighting Chimaev at UFC 294?
“Yes. Definitely yes, definitely yes,” Costa said Monday on The MMA Hour.
Costa has been in Abu Dhabi to acclimate for UFC 294 for the past four weeks. He said he had an initial small medical procedure done on his elbow back home in Brazil two weeks before he flew out for the fight, and that procedure was supposed to correct the issue. However, once he arrived in Abu Dhabi and resumed hard training, Costa said his elbow flared back up in a bad way. He explained that the injury began as a staph infection but was ultimately diagnosed as a “bursitis infection” by doctors in Abu Dhabi, and that immediate surgery was deemed necessary once doctors understood how bad his elbow had gotten.
“When the doctor told me it was necessary to open [up my elbow], I was with my team, Eric [Albarracin] and Tamara [Alves], everybody was there, and I just asked doctors how long it would take to remove these stitches,” Costa said. “They say, ‘OK, we are five weeks to the fight right now, and you need to stay with stitches in your elbow for two weeks. So after two weeks, we’re going to remove that and we’re left with two weeks for you to train.’
“I said, ‘That’s good. That’s good news. That’s enough.’ Two weeks is enough to train, because I am in shape, I’m ready. I came ready to this fight. I’ve been calling [out] this guy to fight, Gourmet Chen Chen, a long time ago. You know that. I was on your show when I was talking about him and I’ve chased this guy, and I know he wants one excuse to get out of this fight. He doesn’t want that fight. I want this fight so bad and I will not let him [escape so] easily. So I just asked them, ‘Please, keep me in the fight.’ I even asked [the doctor] to not let the UFC know, but that was not possible, so they reported everything to the UFC.”
“[UFC] are just worried about me because [of the surgery],” he added. “I took 10 days off to [get the procedure] in Brazil, and here [I took off] 14 more days before and after surgery. So they’re a little bit worried about my health. But I’m sparring, I’m doing everything.”
Costa, 32, was still wearing a bandage over his surgically repaired elbow along with a medical wrap throughout Monday’s interview.
Nonetheless, his longtime coach, Eric Albarracin, expressed confidence in Costa’s ability to make the necessary preparations for his looming dance date with Chimaev.
“I can tell you, he’s been looking great,” Albarracin said. “Even when he had stitches, he was training, he just wasn’t using the right arm. Once the stitches came out, [he went] right back into sparring, he’s looked awesome. I brought some of the best guys in the world [into camp]. Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, I’ve traveled around the world — and to Japan — to find these partners. Olympic wrestlers. Everything.”
Costa faces a big test when he meets Chimaev at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena for UFC 294.
Chimaev has been touted as a potential future UFC champion since his debut in the promotion in 2020. He is a perfect 6-0 over six appearances and has barely been touched in the majority of his outings. Aside from his hard-fought decision over Gilbert Burns, Chimaev has sustained just one significant strike in his five other octagon wins.
Costa is confident, though. The hard-hitting Brazilian vowed to do everything in his power to stay in the fight and fully expects to win, even under less-than-ideal circumstances.
“I’d like to say thank you to the UFC as well for keeping me in this fight, because bro, I truly believe [if we fight] 100 times, I can beat him like 99 percent [of the fights],” Costa said. “I have all the tools to beat this motherf*****. He’s a wrestler. He has nothing for me. He has big head, long arms, slim body. He will do nothing against me. I will defend his first takedown and I’m going to knock him out. So, I want this fight so bad, that’s why I’m still in this fight. I did a surgery, but it doesn’t [matter], I’m going be there anyway.
“This guy, he needs to run [more than that] to escape from me. I’m here to beat him. The only way [we won’t fight] is if doctors drag me out screaming, kicking, and not allow me to go inside the cage, because I came to fight him and I truly believe I’m going to beat him.”
