"He got Chechen privilege" - Fans voice support as Paulo Costa rallies against Khamzat Chimaev cutting in line for title shot

This past weekend at UFC 294, Khamzat Chimaev picked up the biggest win of his career thus far by defeating former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.

Interestingly, the fight, which saw ‘Borz’ win a majority decision, actually took place at 185lbs rather than 170lbs, with Usman stepping in on late notice to replace Paulo Costa.

Despite this, it appears that Khamzat Chimaev is now next in line for UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland after his big win, despite Usman not being ranked in the top fifteen at 185lbs.

However, Strickland himself has already gone on record to state that Chimaev has not earned his shot, and he isn’t the only one who seemingly feels this way.

Paulo Costa recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to suggest that Chimaev ought to fight him instead, while the title shot ought to go to Dricus du Plessis, who some fans have already claimed is being overlooked.

Interestingly, despite Khamzat Chimaev’s popularity with the fans, many X users seemed to agree with ‘The Eraser.’

Users @MartinS24851657 and @NikkuAbhishek both suggested they wanted to see Costa vs. Chimaev.

“bro please...you versus khamzat...it has to happen”

“Chechen x Paulo Costa 100%”

@SlipnRoll seemed to want to play UFC matchmaker in his own right with a lengthy suggestion.

“you are right, DDP should do the fight and lose. So that they can set up an Adesanya vs DDP fight for Izzy’s comeback. The winner of you and Chechen should get the next title shot”

In a similar fashion, user @B_Lunt420 suggested an entire card booked around the two fights.

“This is it, Paulo vs. Khamzat and Strickland vs. Duplessis. Easy money banger fights everyone happy, lots of ppv. Put Usman vs. someone at 185, rebook Walker vs Ankalaev and add someone like Rosas jr as a main card opener and THATS IT!!”

Users @PehalRavindra and @millzeez both threw their support behind Costa.

“Your always correct champ lets gooo.”

“I wanna see you fight for the title Paulo”

However, @Alexandru122 had a different foe in mind for Costa, while @lightbulbfeed called out the Brazilian’s own lack of big wins in recent years.

“Nah people wanna see Ikram vs Paulo.”

“You haven’t beat a ranked middleweight in 5 years”

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Khamzat Chimaev middleweight title shot: Where is ‘Borz’ ranked at 185lbs?

Khamzat Chimaev’s win over Kamaru Usman this weekend may well be enough to net him a UFC middleweight title shot against champ Sean Strickland.

However, many fans may be surprised to learn that ‘Borz’ has not broken into the top five in his new weight class despite looking set to fight for the title in his next bout there.

Reporter John Morgan took to X (formerly Twitter) and confirmed that Chimaev has entered the middleweight rankings at No.9.

Interestingly, this ranking places ‘Borz’ three places below Paulo Costa, who remains ranked at No.6 despite his inactivity.