‘Big’ John McCarthy has addressed how Khamzat Chimaev would fare in his move from the UFC welterweight to the middleweight division.
The retired MMA referee particularly weighed in on one-time UFC middleweight title challenger Paulo Costa and former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker as potential opponents for Chimaev.
On the Weighing In podcast, McCarthy and former UFC lightweight fighter Josh Thomson seemingly agreed that Khamzat Chimaev might lose to Paulo Costa but would definitely lose to Robert Whittaker.
They even referenced the ongoing feud between Chimaev and Costa, with McCarthy giving his insight on possibly booking a Chimaev-Costa matchup.
“Absolutely! Paulo Costa is calling him [Chimaev] out.”
However, Thomson alternatively proposed that Chimaev could be booked to fight Whittaker first, lest ‘Borz’ ends up being beaten by Costa. McCarthy replied by saying”
“He [Costa] might [beat Chimaev], but Robert Whittaker will beat him [Chimaev]. Robert Whittaker will beat him.”
John McCarthy harked back to Costa’s one-sided TKO defeat against reigning UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in 2020. He insinuated that Costa’s infamous wine-drinking debacle prior to the Adesanya matchup, as well as his subsequent weight miss and decision loss to Marvin Vettori in 2021, didn’t show him in a great light.
Regardless, McCarthy highlighted that notwithstanding his past indiscretions, the fact remains that Costa is still an exceptional fighter. McCarthy added:
“Do I think he [Costa] has got a good chance of beating Khamzat? He’s got a good chance of beating Khamzat.”
Moreover, McCarthy and Thomson acknowledged that widely-revered grapplers such as Yoel Romero and Luke Rockhold struggled to take Costa down. On that note, they seemingly believe that taking down Costa wouldn’t be a cakewalk for Khamzat Chimaev either.
Watch McCarthy discuss the topic at 1:16:17 in the video below:
Khamzat Chimaev hints at continuing his UFC welterweight title quest
After Khamzat Chimaev’s failure to make the welterweight limit for his scheduled fight against Nate Diaz at UFC 279 earlier this month, his coach Andreas Michael claimed that ‘Borz’ could compete at middleweight in his next octagon outing. However, in a recent tweet, Chimaev teased possibly fighting former interim UFC welterweight champion Colby Covington next.
Khamzat Chimaev has consistently maintained that he intends to capture the UFC welterweight, middleweight, and light heavyweight titles. While many believed that his UFC 279 weight debacle would mean that the UFC would book him in a middleweight bout next, Chimaev’s aforementioned tweet suggests that he’s still very much in pursuit of the welterweight title.
