At the recent press conference, UFC president Dana White was asked whether the UFC 294 co-headliner between Khamzat Chimaev and Paulo Costa is off due to Costa’s recent elbow surgery.
“Yeah, it’s possible,” White said before adding fans would know “very soon” if the plans were changing. “Very soon. Unless another fucking big mouth pops up out of somewhere. Yeah, hopefully within a couple hours I’ll have an answer for you.”
If Costa is forced to pull out of the fight, it will probably be hard to find a worthy replacement willing to take the tough fight on short notice.
The Brazilian recently indicated he has no plans to pull out from the bout, but that decision might not be in his hands after all. On Monday’s appearence at The MMA Hour, Costa claimed he was good to go.
“Two weeks is enough to train, because I am in shape, I’m ready. I came ready to this fight. I’ve been calling [out] this guy to fight, Gourmet Chen Chen, a long time ago. He doesn’t want that fight. I want this fight so bad and I will not let him [escape so] easily,” Costa said.