Crazy footage from the UFC gala. Fans attacked the star who was supposed to fight Chimaev. Don’t mess with me, the injured Costa responds

The UFC has another big tournament under its belt, this time with the number 294. It was held in Abu Dhabi and had some big changes from the original fight card. One of them was the fact that Paulo Costa only participated as a spectator, yet he almost got into fight mode.

UFC 294 took place on Saturday in Abu Dhabi. The main two fights of the tournament were in jeopardy less than two weeks before the event when Paulo Costa and Charles Oliveira dropped out due to injuries.

However, they were replaced by Kamaru Usman and Alexander Volkanovski, leaving Khamzat Chimaev and Islam Makhachev with more than adequate opponents. Quite possibly even tougher than the ones they were originally supposed to face.

Costa in particular, however, was looking forward to his fight with Chimaev. They’d been at each other’s throats on social media for a long time, bantering, it could have been a big war. But the Brazilian had to pull out of the fight because of a staph infection.

A few weeks before the match, he underwent surgery, but afterwards he trained with only one arm and did not put any strain on the operated arm so that it could heal. However, this did not happen. In order to silence critics and doubters, he posted unsavory photos that he used as proof that he wasn’t making things up.

So, he only came to UFC 294 as a spectator as he arrived in Abu Dhabi early. Still, he almost had to switch into wrestling mode.

Costa was attacked by fans

It can’t be said that he had any great sympathy with Khamzat Chimaev’s fans. However, they got ridiculously carried away during an otherwise fantastic tournament, and a situation arose that definitely shouldn’t happen at a gala.

In fact, a video has emerged on social media showing Paulo Costa being attacked by several fans. It is not clear how the conflict started. It is only visible that one of the fans is downright jumping on the Brazilian, who defended himself despite his health condition.

“Don’t mess with me,” Costa told the men who attacked him via his Twitter account, along with the attached video.

It’s worth noting that in addition to the assault, Costa was also booed and booed by the fans in the arena, which he certainly doesn’t deserve. He did his best to get into the game. He has already undergone three operations for the infection. The Brazilian has been waiting for a fight since August 2022.

Source: UFC, Twitter