Paulo Costa gives shocked reaction to Chael Sonnen accurately predicting Khamzat Chimaev matchup months ago
UFC veteran Chael Sonnen rightly predicted the Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira rematch as well as Paulo Costa vs. Khamzat Chimaev happening at this year's Abu Dhabi event. 'The American Gangster' gave his prediction back in April.
Veteran MMA journalist Ariel Helwani was first to point out the prediction coming true, while reporting both bouts for UFC 294 on October 21 in Abu Dhabi. Here's what Helwani posted:
"Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira 2 is official for UFC 294 on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi. Paulo Costa vs. Khamzat Chimaev is also official for that card. First reported by Chael Sonnen on The MMA Hour (in April)."
Islam Makhachev x Charles Oliveira 2 is official for UFC 294 on Oct. 21 in Abu Dhabi.
Paulo Costa x Khamzat Chimaev is also official for that card.
First reported by Chael Sonnen on The MMA Hour (in April 🤯).
Reacting to Ariel Helwani's tweet, Paulo Costa replied with the following:
"Are you a mystic m*therf****r?"
🫡🧃
@arielhelwani Are u mystic 🧙♀️ mtfk? 🙌🫡🧃❤️
Paulo Costa was originally supposed to face Russian middleweight Ikram Aliskerov at UFC 291. However, the bout didn't come to fruition and 'Borrachinha' is now fighting 'Borz'. Aliskerov, meanwhile, has been paired with Nassourdine Imavov for UFC 294.
Khamzat Chimaev will make his much-anticipated return to the octagon more than a year after last fighting at UFC 279. 'Borz' and 'Borrachinha' were infamously involved in a minor scuffle at the UFC Performance Institute, setting up a rivalry that is perfect for the buildup to their UFC 294 bout.
Chael Sonnen's accurate predictions of Paulo Costa vs. Khamzat Chimaev and the UFC 294 main event
Chael Sonnen predicted that Islam Makhachev and Charles Oliveira would fight at this year's Abu Dhabi card even before 'Do Bronx' fought Beneil Dariush at UFC 289. While speaking to Ariel Helwani, Sonnen also predicted that Paulo Costa vs. Khamzat Chimaev would take place as the co-main event at UFC 294.
Sonnen made the prediction back in April and Helwani, while confirming the UFC 294 alluded to the former UFC middleweight's accurate prediction.
A fan with the handle '@afeldMMA' posted a snippet of the April 1h episode of The MMA Hour featuring Chael Sonnen's prediction. Here is what 'The American Gangster' said:
"So my understanding is [that] Khamzat is going to fight Paulo Costa - they're going to go out [and fight in] Abu Dhabi. That's a co-main event, very relevant, they'll be there for three rounds instead of five. [The UFC will put] Islam on top of the bill. Now the relevance to Islam [being] on top of the bill is - Islam is going to fight the winner of Charles and Benny, and that's still three weeks away."
@arielhelwani Uncle Chael has never told a lie.
This was on the April 10th episode of The MMA Hour. pic.twitter.com/AttxOBCNbe
Sonnen continued:
"So that means, the card that I'm referencing [to], out in Abu Dhabi, and the placement of co-main event - we're four or five months away in a best case scenario. So, it looks like they're going to keep those two [bouts] on ice [until the time is right]."