Costa (15-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) says knowing he outlasted Olympic silver medalist wrestler Yoel Romero in his fifth UFC fight in 2019, he's confident that he'll have the strength to fend off Chimaev's wrestling.

Dana White announced that Reinier de Ridder will face Anthony Hernandez on October 18, with the result of this matchup and the main event of UFC Paris next month being used to decide the next challenger. One of the four fighters in the running to challenge Chimaev has already started to have some thoughts about how he would prepare for such a task.

Magomed Ankalaev’s coach, Sukhrab Magomedov, told Telecomasia.net in an exclusive interview that Khamzat Chimaev, the UFC middleweight titleholder, could likely compete in the light heavyweight division and that he would match up well against Alex Pereira.

Chael Sonnen includes Bo Nickal in his list of desired opponents for new UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev.