Paulo Costa piled on Khamzat Chimaev after Sean Strickland handed him the first loss of his professional career at UFC 328 over the weekend. The split-decision defeat cost Chimaev the middleweight title and immediately reshaped the top of the 185-pound division.
The result also injects fresh life into a weight class that had started to revolve around Chimaev’s unbeaten aura. With Strickland back in the title picture and contenders like Dricus du Plessis, Israel Adesanya, and Costa all lurking, the division suddenly feels far less predictable than it did a week ago.
Taking to X, Costa didn’t hold back.
“Guys, listen to me: this Chechen will never be the same again. He’s done, he’s in the past. He will never come back, so there’s no point dreaming about our fight. For a truly big fight, you need two real warriors. And Chimaev... He’s crushed and will never be a top fighter again,” Costa wrote on X.
That’s a familiar angle from Costa, whose long-running tension with Chimaev has played out through interviews, social media shots, and years of fan speculation about a potential matchup. For American fans, this is exactly the kind of post-fight chaos that keeps the middleweight division compelling: one upset loss, and suddenly old grudges, fresh title scenarios, and new eliminator fights all come back into play.
For Chimaev, the bigger question is how he responds. He had built his reputation on dominance and pressure, but a close loss in a title fight now tests whether he can adjust, rebuild, and handle adversity at the championship level. Costa, meanwhile, is clearly positioning himself to stay relevant in the conversation, whether that means reviving his rivalry with Chimaev later or angling for another high-profile fight.
The next few weeks should reveal whether Chimaev starts a redemption run or whether UFC 328 was the night the middleweight hierarchy changed for good.