Khamzat Chimaev and Gilbert Burns had a historic clash at UFC 273. They just put on one of the most spectacular fights that the sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has ever seen! After a 15 minute war, it was Chimaev who got his hand raised and maintained the status of being undefeated.
Coming into this fight, Chimaev only got past the first round once in his 4 UFC fights. Hence, there were doubts about how good his stamina will be if Khamzat faces adversity. He just put all those doubts to bed as he went all 3 rounds and maintained an insane pace.
Gilbert Burns deserves a lot of credit for the fight as well. He not only made the fight competitive, the Brazilian almost knocked Chimaev out on multiple occasions. Despite being cut open by a vicious elbow in the first round, Burns never gave up and fought till the last buzzer.
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After 3 rounds of insanity, the Swedish fighter went into the doctor’s room where Gilbert was being checked upon. Khamzat was seemingly grateful for the contest and there was nothing but respect between the two.
Khamzat Chimaev: “I respect all my opponents”
In the press conference after the event, Khamzat Chimaev was asked about what words were exchanged during the backstage meeting between the two. In response to that, The Borz said,
“Everyone, you know all the guys in the UFC, people think I don’t respect the guys. This is the game, I try to prioritize mine and let him make some mistakes you know. I love this sh*t. I have been watching all the time, all that you see sh*t,”
Gilbert Burns had his family in the audience during the event. Chimaev notice that as claimed it was difficult to fight Burns after he saw Gilbert’s children shouting at him. Chimaev went on to say,
“I try to learn something from everywhere and I respect all my opponents. Everyone do this for his family. I sit before the fight, actually (it) was a little bit hard to fight him. Because I see his kids, they come to me, ‘Hey, you fight my daddy?’ I said sh*t, f**k, I don’t need that sh*t. I doesn’t wanna fight with some daddy.“
“I go to him, I said, ‘I respect brother and you do it for (your family). Sorry for punches. We do it for our family and to have fun as well,”
According to the boss, Dana White, Khamzat Chimaev is most like to face Colby Covington next. In the press conference, he added that the fight will most likely take place on the upcoming ABC network fight card later this year.