Everybody has tough days! Khamzat Chimaev’s deleted tweet lays out his thoughts on the hard-fought war against Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 very clearly. Khamzat Chimaev engaged in a potential Fight of the Year against Gilbert Burns on the main card of UFC 273.
Both Chimaev and Burns left it all inside the Octagon in a three-round slugfest, much to the delight of every fan present inside the VyStar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. While it was an exciting fight, even winning the Fight of the Night honors, it won’t be wrong to say that it did not go the way many fans would have expected.
Khamzat Chimaev fought the toughest fight of his mixed martial arts career when he took on Gilbert Burns at UFC 273. In the lead-up to the fight, Chimaev had promised the fans an easy outing inside the cage. However, when it came to it, Burns put up a performance of a lifetime to not only potentially derail the hype behind Khamzat Chimaev, but also almost knocked him out and handed him the first loss of his mixed martial arts career.
Khamzat Chimaev compares his lackluster performance to Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Gleison Tibau
While Khamzat Chimaev emerged vicariously at UFC 273, it came with its fair share of ups and downs. Chimaev started strong in the first round, even dropping the Brazilian stalwart with a straight jab. However, Burns made a quick turnaround in the second round, hurting Chimaev, and dropping him with an overhand right. Chimaev was able to withstand the storm and came out much stronger in the third round to pick up a unanimous decision win and take his MMA record to 11-0.
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) April 11, 2022
It goes without saying, listening to the Chimaev in the lead-up to the fight made every fan believe that Chimaev would walk through Burns. However, when it came to it, that wasn’t the case.
Chimaev later revealed that he got excited at the idea of knocking out Burns, and drifted away from his gameplan. He further admitted that it was a tough fight, and revealed that he is going to make some changes to his approach inside the Octagon in the next fight.
Be that as it may, in just his fifth fight for the UFC, Chimaev not only showed his skillset by facing the #2 ranked welterweight in the world but also proved that he has all the making of a future UFC Champion. While the win at UFC 273 may not have been as dominant as one would have hoped, Chimaev shared how “sometimes champions have tough fights but they always pull out wins because they are champions.”
Taking to Twitter, Chimaev compared his recent performance to several UFC fights of the past, where the “Champions” faced adversity against an opponent, only to rise through and emerge victoriously. These included Georges St-Pierre vs Johny Hendricks, Daniel Cormier vs Alexander Gustafsson, Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson, and most notably Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Gleison Tibau.
The hype is REAL ????
[ @KChimaev | #UFC273 ] pic.twitter.com/2q8Dyrm6Cs
— UFC (@ufc) April 10, 2022
UFC fans were more intrigued by Khamzat’s mention of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Gelison Tibau, a match-up that is often seen by many fans as the only time Khabib Nurmagomedov looked beatable inside the Octagon, akin to Chimaev vs Burns where the Chechen fighter did not look as “invisible” as fans have come to believe.