Getty Paddy Pimblett celebrates defeating Rodrigo Vargas during UFC Fight Night: Volkov v Aspinall.
UFC superstar Paddy Pimblett shared his thoughts on the scuffle between Khamzat Chimaev and Paulo Costa ahead of UFC 279.
Chimaev is set to mark his return to action against Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 279 on Sep. 10 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Coming off a hard-earned victory over former title challenger Gilbert Burns in his last outing, Chimaev will go into the bout hoping to get closer to a title shot. Diaz, on the other hand, appears set to explore free agency after completing the last fight on his current deal with the promotion.
Ahead of the highly-anticipated clash between the rising prospect and the grizzled veteran, Chimaev got into an altercation with top-ranked middleweight contender Costa on Sep. 5 at the UFC Performance Institute in Vegas. Costa was in a grappling session with Diaz’s teammate Jake Shields, when he got confronted by “Borz.”
Shields conducted interviews following the incident and labeled Chimaev a “fake gangster,” who was behaving disorderly only in front of the cameras as a promotional tool.
Reactions from fellow athletes and community members came flooding in. English fan favorite Pimblett gave his take in a Sep. 6 comment on a post shared by MMA Junkie where Shields detailed the run-in with Chimaev.
Pimblett wrote, “Easyyyyy work for my boy @borrachinhamma easy money.”
Instagram, Paddy Pimblett comments on MMA Junkie’s post with Jake Shields detailing the run-in with Khamzat Chimaev.
“The Baddy” has sided with Costa, declaring “Borz” would be an easy matchup for the 185-pound former title challenger. Pimblett and Costa get in a bit of banter during their fights, with the Brazilian stating he received tips for cutting weight from the Scouser, who infamously balloons up from binge eating after his contests.
Costa Shared His Thoughts on the Incident
Initially, the playful Costa did not get serious and might have considered it a prank or an innocuous joke. However, things went south quickly after Chimaev called him a “Brazilian p***y,” touching a nerve to get “Borrachinha” riled up.
“I met Chimaev there, and man, he was scared,” Costa shared his side of the story in a clip uploaded to his YouTube account (ht MMA Junkie). “The guy stood there and he froze. He froze. I actually was not surprised. As I said before, cupcake Chechen, gourmet Chechen is a bully with small guys.”
Although he was wildly outnumbered, Costa was willing to throw down with “Borz,” who did not initiate any violence.
“His whole team got in the middle between me and him. Man, this guy is scared. He’s scared as f*ck. Just so you know, Chimaev, I don’t need to have a couple of guys with me. I’m an army of one man. I walk alone and I can beat you alone with just one hand.”
Shields Called Chimaev a ‘Fake Gangster’
Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Shields may have stepped away from competition, but he continues to train alongside his close friend Diaz. He was in the gym working with Costa when Chimaev interrupted their workout in an unexpected face-off.
“So we run over and start talking sh*t and Khamzat keeps going, ‘Let’s fight now, let’s fight now,’ but as he’s saying that he’s walking down the stairs,” Shields said (ht MMA Junkie). “It seemed like it was kind of more of an act for the cameras than anything.
“I guess someone said afterward that he was scoping us out for 10 minutes. If he wanted to fight Paulo, he would’ve run in there and started swinging on him, not stood outside the cage and say, ‘Let’s fight right now. Let’s fight right now.’”
“It seemed kind of a weak thing,” he added. “I guess that’s why he was upset because Paulo called him a fake gangster, and that was a perfect example of him being a fake gangster.”