Paulo Costa provides massive injury update after ugly open elbow wound forced him out of UFC 294

UFC middleweight Paulo Costa was forced out of his co-main event fight against Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 294 due to an injury.

A couple weeks earlier, Costa revealed on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he had undergone surgery on his elbow during fight camp. He revealed some gruesome pictures of his wounded elbow and showed off multiple stitches.

Although Costa maintained that he was recovering and training simultaneously and was physically fit, he was replaced from the UFC 294 main card soon after. Former welterweight champion Kamaru Usman will take his place against the unbeaten Khamzat Chimaev.

However, in the latest update from Costa, he disclosed that the elbow has healed remarkably well and he will be back to full mobility within a week to train at full strength.

Costa wrote:

"Update: i had appointment at doctors righ now and it’s was great, the heal process was impressive. They said shoul be fully closed in more one week and able to fully exercise [Folded hands emoji] [DNA emoji] [beverage box emoji]"

Check out his post and a picture of his recovering elbow wound below:

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Paulo Costa blasts UFC for soft mat at Kamaru Usman's open training, references TJ Dillashaw's injury

Many believed that Paulo Costa's replacement Kamaru Usman injured himself during his customary fight week open workouts in front of the fans.

A video clip showed Usman grappling with Justin Gaethje before possibly admitting to 'popping' something to his partner and ending the grappling session.

Costa criticized the soft and unstable mat at the open workout.

"Tbh who puts that f*ck soft mat ? This open workout need to be on hard ground. Avoiding any issues"

'Borrachinha' also referenced TJ Dillashaw's injured shoulder in his return to action against Aljamain Sterling. The shoulder massively compromised the former champion and he was helpless in the fight. He subsequently lost in the second round.

Dillashaw later admitted to being aware of the injury and fighting through it during his entire camp:

"I just remembered TJ dillashaw shoulder . Fighters are different, we hide injuries in this situation. The fact they stop and not keeping training after starting it only few minutes ago and shake the leg is clarity that something happened , the question is how serious it is. I felt so bad for TJ dillashaw and I don’t want to see it happens again!"

Check out Paulo Costa's posts below: