Sep 10, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Khamzat Chimaev (red gloves) fights Kevin Holland (blue gloves) during UFC 279 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

mma

Khamzat Chimaev Fires Back After Paulo Costa’s Accusation Of Texting His Partner

Khamzat Chimaev mocks Paulo Costa after his UFC 318 interview, reveals that his partner had texted him first !

Sep 10, 2022; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Khamzat Chimaev (red gloves) fights Kevin Holland (blue gloves) during UFC 279 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

Social media drama in MMA has become almost as entertaining as the actual fights themselves. Fighters love to trash talk online, build up storylines, and sometimes air their dirty laundry for everyone to see. What starts as promotional banter often turns into genuine bad blood, especially when personal lives get dragged into the mix. Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev have been going back and forth for years now, trading insults and calling each other out whenever they get the chance.

The beef between these two middleweights goes way back to 2022 when they nearly came to blows at the UFC Performance Institute in Las Vegas. Security had to step in to prevent an all out brawl between the two camps. Ever since then, they have been looking for any excuse to take shots at each other. Costa has repeatedly called Chimaev scared and accused him of ducking fights. Meanwhile, the Chechen fighter has fired back with his own verbal jabs. Their rivalry was supposed to be settled in the octagon at UFC 294, but Costa had to pull out due to an elbow infection, leaving fans disappointed and the bad blood unresolved.

Paulo Costa Drops A Personal Bomb

Things took a seriously personal turn after Costa’s recent victory over Roman Kopylov at UFC 318. During his post fight interview, the Brazilian decided to get really nasty with his call out of Chimaev. Costa didn’t just challenge him to a fight, he went nuclear by claiming that Chimaev had been sliding into his partner’s DMs. That’s the kind of accusation that crosses all sorts of lines in the fight game, where talking about family and relationships is usually off limits.

Costa doubled down on his claims by calling Chimaev a coward on social media, throwing around a bunch of other insults while he was at it. The Brazilian has always been known for his trash talk, but this felt different. It’s one thing to question someone’s fighting ability or courage inside the octagon, but accusing them of inappropriate behavior with your significant other is about as personal as it gets.

Khamzat Chimaev Flips The Script

Khamzat Chimaev wasn’t about to let those accusations slide without firing back. The undefeated contender took to social media. This response completely flipped Costa’s narrative on its head. Instead of denying the DM allegations, Chimaev claimed it was actually the other way around. He said that Costa’s partner was the one who reached out to him first.

“It was she who wrote to me habibi.”

It was she who wrote to me habibi 🤣🤣🤣
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) July 20, 2025

By adding “habibi” (which means “my dear” in Arabic), Chimaev managed to be both dismissive and slightly mocking at the same time. He basically turned Costa’s accusation into a joke. Both men are now locked into this narrative, and the only way to truly settle it is inside the octagon! ‘Borz’ is set to fight for the title at UFC 319. And if he loses the fight, Paulo Costa fight seems to be in the clear then!

(Image Credit: Joe Camporeale – Imagn Images)

Khamzat Chimaev

Paulo Costa

Zaid Quraishi

mma

I am a dedicated MMA and Boxing content writer at The Playoffs. I was instantly hooked on MMA after watching the fight between Lyoto Machida vs. Gegard Mousasi back in 2014, and since then, i have been an avid writer with a deep love for the sport and its techniques, providing readers with a thorough understanding of the sport. My favorite aspect of working at The Playoffs is the creative freedom it provides. The diverse range of topics, from listicles and SEO to news articles, keeps me engaged and motivates me to continuously improve my skills! I aim to capture the excitement of the combat sports world in my writing, acting as the middleman between fighters and their die-hard fans. It is kind of like a referee, but with words!