UFC 318 Action lines: Costa Eyes 'Coward' Chimaev, but must win first

Paulo Costa doesn't like Khamzat Chimaev and says they have to fight each other at some point.

This weekend Costa returns to the rising middle weight candidate Roman Kopylov in the penultimate attack of UFC 318, but this week he spoke more about Chimaev than about his opponent.

“I want to fight him very badly. I want to hurt him,” said Costa about Chimaev when he spoke to reporters on Wednesday at UFC 318 Media Day.

Costa is currently not in the cover picture at £ 185, while Chimaev will challenge the Champion DRICUS DU Plessis in the next month at UFC 319 of the next month.

The couple had a short change at the UFC Performance Institute in 2022 and was supposed to fight each other in October 2023, but it was never carried out, with the Costa withdrawn due to an elbow infection.

This tension has not yet cooked and Costa explained that Chimaev apparently contacted his girlfriend via DMS on social media and shared some insulting words about Costa.

“No matter whether he (wins or loses) this fight (with you Plessis). We have to fight. He talks very bad things about me.

“Coward. He is a coward.”

The unique title Challenger in middleweight started his Pro MMA career with 12: 0 and his UFC tenure with 5: 0. Costa received a title against the then champ Israel Adesanya in 2020, but fell at UFC 253.

Costa lost a total of four of his last five fights, but all three of his losses in the middleweight division – his other loss took place at £ 205 – were against champions. He lost decisions to Robert Whittaker and Sean Strickland both in 2024.

Just like UFC 318 headliner Dustin Poirier, Costa has not fought since UFC 302 last June. Apart from that, Kevin Holland was also on this UFC 302 card and shows Daniel Rodriguez on the UFC 318 main ticket in Holland's fifth appearance since UFC 302.

The 34 -year -old Costa has only fought five times in the past five years and had to withdraw from several planned matchups due to illnesses or injuries.

In the meantime, Kopylov is a dynamic striker who won six of his last seven. The 34-year-old Russian achieved a technical knockout victory against Chris Curtis in a fight in January, who won the fight of the night, and Kopylov ended with a head kick in the decreasing seconds of the last round.

Costa and Kopylov are in the Middleweight Division, which occurs at the weekend, in 13th place or No. 14.

Allen, Vettori finally meet, this time in a cage

The last time Brendan Allen and Marvin Vettori fought against each other, it was in the lobby of a casino. This weekend you will keep your differences in a preliminary fight at UFC 318.

In August in August, after the middle weights had taken part in a plant event in Florida to support various teammates that competed on the map, there was an argument in which strokes were thrown.

Everyone told the short brawl this week and said it began when Vettori was a few fluctuations at Tuco Tokkos, fighter from UFC, who was a teammate of everyone at Kill Cliff FC in Florida. UFC Lightweight Michael Johnson, who will open Daniel Zellhuber on Saturday on Saturday, then moved the audience out of the way, and then all Vettori stormed.

Videos on social media showed that everyone came and Vettori, who had an injured shoulder at the time, threw several strokes before the couple bumped into a roulette table and was separated.

Vettori returned from a two-year absence in March, but lost a decision of five rounds to Roman Dolidze in a main train of main event. The 31-year-old Italian said this week that the Matchup was personally with everyone, although everyone said this was not the case. Vettori will also fight with a heavy heart and died tragically for the first time since his younger brother in April.

Vettori is the No. 10 candidate at £ 185 with all to No. 11.

Everyone will try to reach a duels in the past 10 months that unanimously arises against Nassourdine Imavov and Anthony Hernandez. The 29 -year -old everyone fights from Covington, La., And should have the local crowd in New Orleans on his side.

Will we get a better representation of Pitbull from Pitbull?

The long -time Bellator MMA champion Patricio “Pitbull” Freire was not popular with UFC fans in his organizational debut at the beginning of this year and performed a unanimous loss of decision against Yair Rodriguez in April at UFC 314 at UFC 314.

He competes against Dan Ige, who has been entering the Octagon for the 20th time since 2018. Although IGE has a record of 500 in the past five years, the 33-year-old at UFC 314 has won only three fights before Pitbull's debut against Sean Woodson against Sean Woodson. IGE is 19-9 as a professional, but has never been done.

“I will be the first to refuse or stand up,” said Pitbull on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old Brazilian added that when he arrives, he wants to draw his attention to Aaron Pico, a former rival Bellator who signed at the UFC at the beginning of this year.

Poirier's special guest for the final strike

Dustin Poirier gave his UFC debut on January 25, 2011, and the entrance music that he selected for his first walk to the Octagon was the song “Drop The World” by Lil Wayne.

On Saturday evening, Poirier will be personally accompanied for his farewell struggle by Lil Wayne for his last walk to the cage. The rapper comes from New Orleans and Poirier during the walk can play a rehearsal of one of his songs, but Poirier also confirmed this week James Browns The Boss, who has become his go-to-group music, play in the entire smoothie King Center.

On the sub -card there is a handful of promising young people who want to make a positive impression on combat fans.

Atba Gautier Is a 23-year-old from Cameroon with a lot of hype around him. In September he received a UFC contract with a stop against the competitive series and impressed in his official UFC debut in March by ending the long -lasting Jose Medina with one knee in just 3:32. He takes over TUF 32 veteran Robert Valentin, who was recorded by Torrez Finney in a frustrating loss in April. Valentin, 30 from Switzerland, is a dangerous finisher and a difficult challenge for Gauthier.

We haven't seen Daniel Zellhuber Since the loss of the young Mexican against Esteban Robovics at UFC 306, which was one of the best fights in 2024, Zellhuber, who turned 26 at the beginning of this month, has been tested against the Veteranen -Savvy and the Knockout power of Michael Johnson on the main card. Johnson is 39 years old and competed against the best of the best of his time, including the publication of a co-win against Poirier, and drives a winning series with two wins.

Kyler Phillips against Vinicius Oliveira is one of the most convincing matchups on the map. The Bantamweight fight is the prelim presented and the winner will try to raise the ranking with 135 pounds. Phillips is 12th in the division and wins against Songs Yadong and Raoni Barcelos, both of whom are well aged. Oliveira is the competitor No. 15 and occurs as a favorite with a 3-0-UFC record. Phillips lost to Rob Font in his last trip. This could be an former candidate for the fight of the night.

Jackson Mcvey Is the lonely unbeaten fighter on the map and will give his UFC debut against Brunno Ferreira, which is a difficult first task. The middleweight should debut 317 at UFC last month. Although the struggle was canceled, Mcvey still made weight to earn his show money at UFC 317.

The 26-year-old Mcvey is 6-0 from Missouri, with half of his victories with Ko/TKO and half of the submission. Ferreira won three of his last four, has great strength and achieved a submission victory against poor Petrosyan in March.