"I showed only 30 percent of what I've got" - Khamzat Chimaev unfazed by epic fight with Gilbert Burns and hopes to fight again soon
Khamzat Chimaev finally faced a stiff test in the UFC when he fought No.2-ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns on the UFC 273 maincard. Chimaev and Burns went to war for three hard rounds, with Chimaev having his hand raised in the end. The fight was close, though, but much closer than it needed to be, according to Chimaev's coach.
Chimaev arrived in Chechnya and in a new interview with Smesh Bros, he discussed the Burns fight and improvements he planned to make in the future. He said:
"I need to keep working now, I've made many mistakes, I can do better. I was chasing a knockout the whole fight and missed many shots as a result. But I'm satisfied overall. I love my job! My coach said that I showed only 30% of what I've got. Obviously he wasn't satisfied at all. And I know what I'm capable of. This fight got the main event type of hype and I was excited and wanted to KO him. And that was my mistake from the start. I should've worked cleaner. But I will learn from it. It's a great lesson for me."
Watch the full Smesh Bros interview with Khamzat Chimaev below:
The win over Gilbert Burns puts Khamzat Chimaev at 11-0 overall and 5-0 in the UFC. According to UFC president Dana White, Khamzat Chimaev and Colby Covington will fight in the main event of a network show on ABC sometime in the summer. That will require Covington agreeing to the fight first, though.
: youtu.be/QfGiXEow4kw"That hype machine will get halted in a second if they come see Colby 'Chaos' Covington”
Colby Covington reacts to Khamzat Chimaev calling him out.
📺: youtu.be/QfGiXEow4kw https://t.co/W4npiBheIE
Khamzat Chimaev's coach reveals what advice he was giving between rounds
Chimaev vs. Burns was a close fight that nearly went to Burns after a wild second round that saw him land a number of massive overhand rights to Chimaev's head. In the corner between rounds, Chimaev's coach Andreas Michael screamed at him to stop brawling and use his jab more.
Michael expanded on what he was telling Chimaev in an Instagram post following the fight:
"‘Stop brawling stop having a street fight use your straight punches and keep it Easy, this is an Easy fight if you don’t brawl all you have to do is keep him on your jab and have patience. Don’t make it harder than it has to be.’ Nothing else was needed just fast jab and sometimes a straight right keeping your distance reach, to not get hit with the hooks. That’s what I demanded from him. I told him to stop giving everyone a show and just keep it boring and simple."
Chimaev sounds like he's taking his coach's advice to heart now so it will be interesting to see how 'Borz' fights in his next bout.