Magomed Ankalaev wouldn’t mind fighting Paulo Costa if Carlos Ulberg remains sidelined: “Unless he’s going to be running away”

Magomed Ankalaev won’t dismiss a possible collision with Paulo Costa in the near future.

Ankalaev is fresh off his fifth-round finish over Bogdan Guskov in the UFC Abu Dhabi main event this past Saturday. The former 205-pound titleholder was coming off his championship loss to Alex Pereira at UFC 320. It was just the second defeat of the Dagestan bruiser’s pro MMA career, but he got back on track this past Saturday.

There has been a lot of talk within the MMA community about Carlos Ulberg’s return time frame and whether or not an interim title bout should take place. Ulberg is the reigning UFC light heavyweight titleholder, and he is eyeing an early 2027 return from his torn ACL. Meanwhile, Costa has been pounding the table for an interim championship fight.

During the UFC Abu Dhabi post-fight press conference, Ankalaev said that he’s open to fighting Costa if Ulberg won’t be returning as quickly as he hopes (via MMAFighting).

“I’m already the No. 1 contender, but as we know in this division right now our champion is hurt,” Ankalaev said. “We don’t know when he’s going to come back, so if he’s going to take a long time to come back, I would like to stay active and I believe I saw something or heard something that Costa wrote something in my direction. I’m not sure what he was trying to say, whether he was trying to bother me or was trying to get my attention, so if it is indeed that the champion’s going to be out for a little while, then potentially maybe we can have a good fight with Costa, unless he’s going to be running away.”

Costa made his successful light heavyweight return back in April. He turned in a solid performance against Azamat Murzakanov, earning a third-round TKO finish via head kick. “Borrachinha” now has two straight wins, and he’s hoping that a change in weight class will lead him to his first UFC championship.

Should UFC book Magomed Ankalaev vs. Paulo Costa before the end of 2026? Should an interim title be at stake? Let us know in the comments below.