UFC welterweight top contender Gilbert Burns shared his opinion on former opponent Khamzat Chimaev.
Based on how their matchup, Burns doubted that Chimaev would do well in the middleweight division.
Khamzat Chimaev kept his win streak when he beat the number 2 welterweight contender Gilbert Burns. The two clashed fiercely for 3 rounds and Chimaev was announced as the winner via unanimous decision.
But, unlike Chimaev’s previous matches where he won easily, ‘Borz’ could be seen struggling against Burns.
Burns V. Chimaev. UFC 273. I thought Burn's won because of the three rocks and two drops. But Dawg got heart at 11# and my boy proved us wrong. Same for Burns. pic.twitter.com/52RZ2aNSWU
— UFC is LIFE💯 (@weekendofcoke12) April 27, 2022
Chimaev is likely to receive a welterweight title shot at some point in future.
Unfortunately, with the future of the division hanging in the balance due to Usman’s rumored hand injury Masvidal might sneak in and skip the line
In the mean time, Chimaev thought Alex Pereira would make for an easy target.
The 28-year-old born believes that he would easily submit Pereira who lacks wrestling and grappling credentials. Pereira got exposed during his bout with former champion Israel Adesanya. Looking at that bout, Chimaev believes his immense wrestling skill would ragdoll Pereira.
But, Gilbert Burns doubted it would be that easy. During an interview with Super Lutas, Burns said Chimaev might instead get knocked out for underestimating Pereira’s striking capability.
“I took him down, imagine what Poatan (Alex Pereira) can do. If I was able to knock him down (consider Poatan’s power), his hands must be so heavy. I took him down and he is still talk trash to those guys. Poatan’s hands are huge, Borrachinha’s (Paulo Costa) hands are huge.” Burns said.
Burns also added that Chimaev’s instant star power made him cocky, and it would lead to his downfall.
“It’s not that he lost himself,” Burns said.
“It’s that he couldn’t find himself. Things happened too fast for him. Three fights in and he was already a star. At first, I really liked him. He would call people out and keep fighting. Then he broke character. He’s unwilling to make weight, he causes trouble. I like the guy who would call anyone out. Who would take any fight?” Burns said.
Burns admittedly has a bias towards Brazilians that ended up costing him $50,000. Burns bet his manager Ali Abdelaziz that his countryman Charles Oliveira would be able to take out Islam Makhachev and we know how that worked out.