Paulo Costa has declared that he no longer has any interest in fighting Khamzat Chimaev after the star lost his middleweight title to Sean Strickland.

“I know many of you guys want to have me facing Gourmet Chen Chen Chimaev next,” Costa said on Instagram in a post that’s since been deleted. “I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Why? Because he broke; I think he’s done, I don’t think he’ll be back. And even he can grow and be back, it will not be this year. So let’s move on.”

Costa is eager to get back into the Octagon in the coming months, and has even named a few potential opponents, but despite a recent TKO victory up at light-heavyweight he doesn’t mention anybody that’s currently fighting in that division.

“I have a bunch of fights, great fights, great matches to do. I want to fight as soon as possible. I think August is an amazing date, even July. I can fight middleweight, light heavyweight, even heavyweight… Stop talking about Gourmet Chen Chen. I wished to fight him before he lost. But mental strength is not one of his qualities. He has a lot of problems to solve before he’s back… Tell right here who you think I should fight. I will bring three names for you guys: Hokit, heavyweight; Strickland, middleweight; Mike Perry. Make your choice.”

Unfortunately none of Costa’s suggestions seem realistic at this stage. Hokit is already scheduled to fight Derrick Lewis next month, Mike Perry isn’t even in the UFC, and meanwhile though fighting Strickland in the future is certainly a possibility, as things stand Costa is only ranked No.14 in the division, so he isn’t in the title picture.

There are plenty of options for Costa up at 205lbs though after moving to No.7 in the rankings following his latest win, so I’d expect there’s a high likelihood that his next fight will be there against another opponent in the Top 10.