Paulo Costa explains why Khamzat Chimaev rivalry is personal

UFC middleweight Paulo Costa has explained why he considers his feud with Khamzat Chimaev to be pretty personal.

This weekend, Paulo Costa will make his return to the Octagon when he battles Roman Kopylov at UFC 318. While it’s expected to be a tough fight for him, it’s one he should really be winning if he’s serious about climbing back into title contention. Plus, with Khamzat Chimaev potentially becoming champion next month, that’s even more of an incentive.

RELATED: UFC 318 fighter plans to call out Khamzat Chimaev amid bad blood

Because, as we know, Paulo Costa and Khamzat Chimaev do not like one another. That’s been the case for quite some time and while Paulo has been pushing to fight him, nothing has come to fruition as of yet.

In his media day appearance, Costa spoke candidly about one particular reason why things have gotten so personal with Chimaev.

Costa explains why he wants to hurt Chimaev

“I want to fight him very badly,” Costa said at the UFC 318 media day. “I want to hurt him. It doesn’t matter if he won the fight or not; it doesn’t matter. We need to fight. He talked very bad things about me to my girl on Instagram DM’s. This is totally personal. I feel angry just to hear his name, so we need to fight. … I’m going to do my best Saturday, if God gives me the victory because he controls everything, but I’m pretty sure I’ll get the victory and I’ll call his name. It doesn’t matter if he wins or not. This fight will only not happen if he retires.”

“Dirty things,” Costa said. “Like, ‘You should look for a better man.’ Something like that, you know. Dirty things, dirty things. These are not things a real man, a confident man, ought to do. Why he messaged her? Why he didn’t message me? Coward. He is a coward.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie