American presenter Chael Sonnen has gotten into the minds of UFC fans with one of his latest statements. He confirmed that the organization is now looking forward to set up a clash between two titanic stars of the competition, Khamzat Chimaev and Paulo Costa to star in the co-main event for UFC 294 in Abu Dhabi. 

The biggest news following last weekend’s UFC 287 card in Miami was Israel Adesanya reclaiming the middleweight title and finally earning a victory over his rival Alex Pereira. The UFC could potentially be eager to book a third MMA bout between the two retired kickboxers at some point in the future, but for now, it appears the middleweight division is open for new title contenders. 

Ariel Helwani was in conversation with Sonnen on The MMA Hour to reveal further information on the current state of the middleweight division following UFC 287, and Sonnen provided an interesting piece of update when asked about where Chimaev fits into the title picture.

“Well, so my understanding is Khamzat is going to fight Paulo Costa,” Sonnen said. “They’ve even got a date. They’re gonna go out [to] Abu Dhabi, that’s a co-main event – very relevant, they’ll be there for three rounds instead of five – Islam [Makhachev] on the top of the bill. Now the relevance to Islam on the top of the bill is Islam’s gonna fight the winner of Charles [Oliveira] and Benny [Dariush], and that’s still three weeks away.”

If what Sonnen’s claims turn out to be true and that matchup is being planned for UFC 294, it will finally provide some clarity on what weight class Chimaev is keen on competing in for the immediate future. 

Though “Borz” primarily set his eyes on welterweight since joining the UFC, he’s been more than competitive at middleweight, and the undefeated fighter famously missed weight by a considerable margin for what was intended to be a main event welterweight bout against Nate Diaz at UFC 279. If you are interested in not only MMA news but also betting go to Nextbet and find good betting odds. 

Costa already challenged for the middleweight title and was stopped by Adesanya at UFC 253, but the Brazilian snapped a two-fight losing streak by earning a unanimous decision over Luke Rockhold back in August. “The Eraser” recently signed a lucrative new deal with the UFC, and a matchup between him and Chimaev could very well put the winner in a position to fight for the middleweight belt.