UFC 318: Paulo Costa dominates Roman Kopylov for the urgently needed victory, Khamzat Chimaev calls out as promised

Paulo Costa promised a different kind of fighter after a cold strip and a one -year discharge from the fight. He delivered at UFC 318.

The former middleweight challenger achieved his first victory in almost three and his second in almost six years with a unanimous decision victory (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) against the emerging novel Kopylov.

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As an outsider who entered the fight, Costa looked like the fighter, who started his career 13-0, Kopylov struck in the first round and dominated for a large part of the fight. Kopylov got some big shots in the third round, but not nearly enough to reverse the possession of the night.

The best thing that can be said for Costa is that all of his losses against some of the best in the UFC were. Israel Adesanya used one of his best performances to give him his first loss. Marvin Vettori and Robert Whittaker both won through a unanimous decision. Sean Strickland needed a split decision to hit him in a bizarre inactive fight.

After this last fight at UFC 302 in June 2024, Costa took a long release. He promised to be aggressive against Kopylov, whose own combat style promised fireworks when Costa beat through. He did it and the result was one of the most impressive achievements of the Brazilian career.

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We already have an indication of where Costa goes from here. Like his promise to be the attacker, Costa promised that he would describe the future middleweight of Challenger Khamzat Chimaev after an earlier battle date.

“Everyone knows that I hate this guy. Everyone knows who knows. This motherf *** Khamzat chimaev,” said Costa of the ESPN program after the fight. “My wife is over here. He did her … he said bad things about me and she, but he never sent me to me because he is a coward. Chimaev, you are a coward. I'm here, I will search for you, I will follow you and I will not stop until I come.”

The two have been the opposite of friends for some time, although Costa may need more than just this victory to get Chimaev if he exceeds DRICUS DU Plessis in August.

For full reporting on UFC 318, including live results, play-by-play and highlights of the entire Pay-Per view card from Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway 3, read the UFC 318 hub from Oncrorded.