"It's going to be a rough night for Chimaev" - Gilbert Burns believes his experience will overwhelm Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 273
Gilbert Burns has suggested that his experience will overwhelm Khamzat Chimaev in their highly-anticipated welterweight bout at UFC 273. In a segment of the UFC 273 Countdown episode, ‘Durinho’ drew parallels between his own MMA career and that of Chimaev’s.
Khamzat Chimaev currently holds a professional MMA record of 10 wins and 0 losses. ‘Durinho’, who's MMA record stands at 20 wins and 4 losses, highlighted this and recalled when he himself was 10-0 as an MMA fighter. The multi-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion was unbeaten in MMA until his 11th fight.
The fight witnessed Burns suffer his first MMA defeat as he was outworked and beaten via unanimous decision by Rashid Magomedov at UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson 3 in November 2015. 'Durinho' believes that ‘Borz’ will similarly lose his undefeated status at UFC 273.
Burns stated:
“He’s 10-0; super confident right now. And I know that because I’ve been there. I was 10-0 not long ago. I thought I was unbeatable until I faced a guy that was so much experienced than me. And I ended up getting my first loss. I know what he’s feeling. I believe in my resilience, and my experience, my jiu-jitsu, my striking; all that together, it’s going to be a rough night for Chimaev. We'll put that hype to the test.”
Watch the complete UFC 273 Countdown episode in the video below:
Dan Hooker on the UFC 273 fight between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev
UFC fan-favorite striking savant Dan Hooker and UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman hold the distinction of being the only fighters who’ve secured stoppage wins over Gilbert Burns in MMA thus far. Having beaten Burns via first-round knockout in a lightweight bout at UFC 226 in July 2018, Hooker is no stranger to the Brazilian fighter.
Presently, Burns is the No. 2-ranked UFC welterweight and is set to face the No. 11-ranked Khamzat Chimaev in a welterweight matchup at UFC 273 on April 9th. While the consensus is that the undefeated Chimaev is the favorite to defeat Burns, ‘The Hangman’ disagrees.
In an edition of MMA Pros Pick with James Lynch, Hooker weighed in on the Burns-Chimaev matchup and picked his former opponent to beat Chimaev.
'The Hangman' said:
"Khamzat just keeps destroying these guys and walking through them. So, there's not enough information to prove it... it's just [that] he has absolutely steamrolled these guys... but they're on the same boat. Gilbert Burns is just the elite of the division... so it's too big a jump in such short time. So, if you're studying and breaking it down, you have to go with the one with proven track record [Gilbert Burns]."
Watch the video below: