Paulo Costa: UFC champ Khamzat Chimaev's style has 'potential to kill this business'
Chimaev (15-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) dominated and out-grappled Dricus Du Plessis (23-3 MMA, 9-1 UFC) to claim the middleweight title in Saturday's headliner at United Center in Chicago. Chimaev was all over Du Plessis just seconds into the fight, landing 12 takedowns with more than 21 minutes of control time.
Fans were getting uneasy during several moments of the fight, showering Chimaev with boos as he held Du Plessis on the ground. Costa called his performance boring.
"This is a show. This is entertainment," Costa said on "The Ariel Helwani Show." "This kind of fight, and fighter, has a lot of potential to kill this business."
Costa (15-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) snapped his two-fight losing skid by defeating Roman Kopylov at UFC 318 in June and is eager for his shot at Chimaev. He admits he did not expect UFC CEO Dana White to praise Chimaev for his performance.
"This surprised me also because at the press conference after the fight, Dana White was (saying), 'OK, he did amazing,'" Costa said "No, he didn't, man. He did horrible. This is horrible for the (viewers). This is not good. I know you make a deal with Paramount and CBS, but people will watch another show, something else. They will not watch these guys hugging each other for 25 minutes. So, this is not good for our sport."
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