Costa spoke about the clash with Chimaev

Former UFC Middleweight Championship Contender Paulo Costa told about the skirmish that happened between him and Khamzat Chimaev.

“This guy called my name. I trained with my good friend Jake Shields. He taught me good positions in American Jiu-Jitsu, and I saw that Chimaev was there, watching me. I said, "Okay, let this guy learn certain techniques." After 10-15 minutes I heard him call my name. He said, "Hey Paulo, come here." I immediately approached. When I did that, he asked, “Paulo, why are you talking about me in the media? Please tell me". I replied: "Friend, do you want to fight me?" Chimaev said: “No, I just want to know why you are talking about me. After that, I said that I want to fight him. But I said that I want to fight in a cage. Of course, it would be an official fight. He replied, "Okay, let's fight now." But at that moment there were ten more people with him, his whole team was behind him. They kept him. They stood between him and me in a cage."

Recall that earlier Chimaev said that he did not want to fight Costa.