UFC 327 live blog: Azamat Murzakanov vs. Paulo Costa

This is the UFC 327 live blog for Azamat Murzakanov vs. Paulo Costa, the light heavyweight co-main event Saturday at Kaseya Center in Miami.

Currently at No. 8 at 205 pounds in the MMA Fighting Global Rankings, Murzakanov looks to prove he’s worthy of a title shot when he takes on Costa.

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Murzakanov (16-0) has diced up the UFC’s light heavyweight division, finishing five of his first six octagon opponents since earning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021. His most recent win saw him take out longtime contender Aleksandar Rakic in a little over three minutes and he now has 12 knockouts in 16 victories. He’s sure to have his eye on Saturday’s vacant title fight between Jiri Prochazka and Carlos Ulberg.

Costa, a longtime contender at middleweight, moves up to light heavyweight for reasons that are mostly unclear, even to him. The social media maven is over five years removed from his lone UFC title shot against then-middleweight king Israel Adesanya and just 2-4 in his past six fights. However, Costa had a bounce-back performance against Roman Kopylov at UFC 318 and can vault himself back into relevance with an upset over Murzakanov.

Check out the UFC 327 live blog for Azamat Murzakanov vs. Paulo Costa below.

Round 1

Referee Keith Peterson handling the co-main event.

Round 2

Round 3