Azamat Murzakanov plans to turn his UFC 327 co-main event against Paulo Costa into a springboard toward a light heavyweight title shot.
Murzakanov, 16-0 in MMA and 6-0 in the UFC, meets Costa in a 205-pound bout at the Kaseya Center, on a card headlined by Jiri Prochazka vs. Carlos Ulberg for the vacant light heavyweight title. Costa enters the matchup with a 15-4 MMA record and a 7-4 UFC mark.
"I think I'm very close," Murzakanov said when asked about his place in the title picture. He added, "I think everything depends on this fight on Saturday. This is a big fight, this is an important fight. From then on, if everything goes according to plan, I think we're very, very close to a title shot."
The 36-year-old Murzakanov also expressed satisfaction that Costa made it to fight week, saying, "I feel good about the fact that he actually made it here," and joked about keeping him in place until fight night: "That's great. I haven't seen him, but I think a good way to do it is just lock him up and wait until Saturday, and make sure he doesn't run away, then go ahead and fight him on Saturday."
Costa, a former middleweight title challenger, is unranked entering this matchup, while Murzakanov is looking to use a co-main event showcase at UFC 327 to move "very, very close" to a crack at the 205-pound belt.
