Nikolas Motta on Paulo Costa-Khamzat Chimaev Altercation: ‘It Was Crazy’

Nikolas Motta is looking for his first Octagon victory on Saturday, but he has already seen how tense a situation can get in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Motta (12-4, 0-1 UFC) is scheduled to face Cameron VanCamp at the upcoming UFC Fight Night 210. The Dana White's Contender Series graduate was defeated by mixed martial arts veteran Jim Miller in his promotional debut but learned some great lessons from that fight. Last week, the one time Cage Fury Fighting Championships titleholder was at the UFC Performance Institute to train with UFC 185-pounder Paulo Costa when some drama went down following the arrival of Khamzat Chimaev. Costa and Chimaev had a verbal altercation that might lead to a future matchup, which Motta recounted for Sherdog.

“I was there, there was me and Paulo. We were doing some jiu-jitsu drills with Jake Shields. Then I think Khamzat was from the outside looking and he started saying something, and then Paulo started saying back and stands up. Khamzat had a lot of guys with him, maybe 10 or 15 guys with him, and he was like outside. They start [to go at it] again and yeah, it was crazy.”

(00:00) Intro
(00:25) His morning session
(00:54) Whether he knows the recipe for Paulo Costa’s secret juice
(02:08) Training with Costa
(03:30) What happened between Costa and Khamzat Chimaev
(04:35) Preparing for VanCamp
(06:46) What happened before his previously scheduled fight with VanCamp last year
(08:34) His expectation for the fight
(09:06) The biggest takeaway from his fight with Miller
(10:40) Earning his spot in the UFC after a long journey
(11:55) Whether he had any jitters before his UFC debut
(13:38) Picking Cory Sandhagen vs. Yadong Song
(14:41) Aiming to surprise the fans in his next fight
(15:06) Outro