For as fun as the entire card was, Khamzat Chimaev vs Gilbert Burns was very clearly the fight of the night. It was the people's main event all week and it lived up to the hype in a big way. I came into this one hoping to see Chimaev pushed in ways we had never gotten to see before so that we could actually see where his entire MMA skillset is and we got exactly that. I am so happy with how this fight played out. Also, what a performance for the both of them. It is a bit of a cliche in MMA these days, but I think it is the truth when I say that this fight probably improved the stock of both men. Obviously, this gets Chimaev multiple steps closer to a title shot, but I think this fight helped Gilbert Burns a lot too. Public perception was a bit down on him after a knockout loss to Kamaru Usman and his win over Stephen Thompson wasn't exactly the most interesting MMA fight to watch. This was much more of the version of Burns that we saw surge up the welterweight division all the way to the title fight during the pandemic. This really set the tone for the night and I'm so glad that it happened. I think there will probably be more buzz surrounding Burns in his next fight because of this one than had he fought someone else. The buzz around Chimaev will continue to be some of the highest hype in the sport, but you didn't need me to tell you that.
Khamzat won the fight, so as is customary here, we'll start with him. Not only am I glad that we saw Khamzat get pushed, but I was very impressed with what I saw. He came out with a wrestling heavy approach, which didn't surprise anyone, but I think he got met with more resistance from Burns and his BJJ skills than he might have anticipated. It might have been harder work for those takedowns than what he imagined, which might be why we saw him so willing to just stand and strike for most of the fight. Now, when it comes to the striking, you're not going to confuse Khamzat for Anderson Silva, but I really liked what I saw from him. I thought he actually looked pretty damn good and comfortable in the striking. He's not technically masterful or anything and had a tendency to get a little wild, but that is sort of the nature of the beast with Khamzat. I think the nature of the fight kind of encouraged the wildness as well since Gilbert is a bit of a wild striker himself. We already knew Chimaev had the power, but he did a good job of landing it and throwing good combinations from both stances. For someone who is much more of a natural grappler than a striker, I was surprised and impressed to see him switching stances so much and having a lot of success in doing so. Not to take any credit away from Khamzat, but I have to assume training with Darren Till has helped him significantly in that regard. We all know Till is a really high level striker, so while we talk a lot about how Khamzat is helping Till with his wrestling, I don't doubt that Till influenced a lot of what we saw from Chimaev in the standup on Saturday. I think the most important thing that Chimaev showed was how hard he can push. His cardio looked to be in a great spot as his gas tank is largely the reason he won the fight. It was 1 round a piece going into the third round and Chimaev was able to win the third round largely because Gilbert started the first part of that round so slowly while Chimaev was able to throw and land more strikes in the first couple of minutes. It was even over the last half of the round, but Chimaev fought a more complete round and his cardio has a lot to do with that. His cardio also allowed him to absorb a lot of damage in the fight. I didn't anticipate that Chimaev had a weak chin, but we had still never seen him really even get hit, let alone get hit a lot with power strikes. He took Gilbert's shots about as well as anyone could have and even got dropped at the end of the second round, but showed his ability to bounce back. I've seen some people saying his stock is down because Burns made him look human and I couldn't disagree more. I think his stock is up because he looked human. We saw Chimaev in a real fight and he answered almost all of the questions I had about him. I guess if there is anything left for him to answer, it is how he looks on the bottom if he gets taken down, but we saw Burns try and the strength difference was noticeable. He'll likely be getting one of the best wrestlers in the UFC next one way or another, so maybe we'll experience that in his next fight. I thought that was an absolutely fantastic showing from Khamzat and it has me even more excited to see him again.
As for what is next for Chimaev, Dana White seemed to reveal even before the fight that Colby Covington is the target. Look, am I going to be surprised if they somehow try to get Chimaev into a title fight? Of course not, but I do think Dana is going to respect Leon Edwards this time. Leon has long earned his title shot and at this point, if he gets passed up again, I think I'm going to go insane. That isn't to say that I think Edwards has a better chance of beating Usman than Chimaev does, but at some point, the construct of the sport has to matter. Edwards hasn't lost a fight in almost a decade and if that doesn't get you a title shot, I don't know what does. I have no doubt that Chimaev would fight Colby or anyone else for that matter, so getting him to accept isn't the problem. Covington isn't known for being the most active guy in recent years, but as things currently stand, I don't know that he really has a choice. He relied on the idea that he gave Usman his toughest test, which is true, and combined it with a win over a fading Tyron Woodley to get his second shot at Usman. However, with two losses to Usman, Colby won't get a third shot unless he does something big and I don't think there's any bigger win to have right now than Chimaev (besides Usman of course). If it really is Colby's desire to get another shot at the belt, and I have no reason to believe it isn't, then this is the fight he has to take. This would be an awesome fight and the only thing I'm torn on is if I want it to be a main event or on the main card of a PPV. No matter which one it is, it has to be a 5 round fight. To make it 3 rounds would be a crime against humanity. I think the only other option for Chimaev would be an interim title fight. Kamaru Usman had surgery on his hand after he fought Colby the second time, which was in November, and we haven't heard much from him since. The original rumor was that he would fight Leon in July, but Ariel Helwani seemed to think that maybe that might be a little too soon and the UFC would be open to holding an interim title fight, depending on exactly how long it would be before Usman's return. This would open the door for a Chimaev vs Leon Edwards fight for the interim title. I would be a bit disappointed because this leaves us with only one great fight instead of two, but if Usman isn't 100%, then there really isn't anything that can be done. If the UFC has to go the route of the interim title fight, then Chimaev vs Edwards will almost certainly be the fight. If not, then Chimaev vs Covington is the one I want to see the most.
I thought Gilbert Burns fought about as well as he could have reasonably been expected to. He made this a close fight all the way to the end and just got edged out by a guy who seems to be the next significant challenger for the welterweight division as a whole. It was really the little things that cost him and, like I said yesterday about Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling, it really is splitting hairs when you're fighting these high level fights. The biggest thing for Burns was always going to be the ability to stay off his back and he did that very well. If Chimaev could've taken Burns down and pounded him out for the entirety of the fight, he would have, but Burns was hard enough to take down and difficult enough to keep down that Chimaev didn't think it was worth the energy it would cost to try it a second time. This left the fight to play out on the feet, which gave Gilbert his best chance to win. Unfortunately for him, it just wasn't quite enough. He was probably losing round one regardless, but after his chin failed him on a jab, that solidified it. Then in the third round, he just didn't have the cardio to match Chimaev for a long stretch to start. It looked like Burns knew he only had half a round of cardio left and he chose to use it in the second half of the round. Chimaev had a little more left in the tank and he was able to match Burns during that half, but won the first half of the round and that is what got him the nod. It was a crazy fight and both guys put it all on the line. I don't think there is really much Burns could have done differently. He was able to land his power strikes in all three rounds, Chimaev was just able to take them and land more of his own shots. Because of his performance, I don't think Gilbert really loses much steam and will be in an interesting spot going forward.
Gilbert Burns does have his fair share of options for his next fight. Unfortunately for him, they may not be as appealing as he would like because a lot of the highest ranked guys left are either booked or have already fought him. Leon Edwards is going to be fighting for the title one way or another this summer, so he's taken. I guess if there is an interim title fight between Chimaev and Edwards, the Colby becomes an option, but for some reason that just doesn't seem all that likely to me. He just fought Stephen Thompson, so that won't be happening again soon. Finally, even though it makes sense rankings wise, I don't think Jorge Masvidal would have any interest in a fight with Gilbert Burns. Jorge is either looking for a big money fight or someone who will stand and strike with him. The most obvious option will be for him to get someone from this coming weekend's main event, Vicente Luque vs Belal Muhammad. I think he could reasonably end up fighting either the winner or loser. Since Usman's injury has created a bit of a logjam, I don't think that fight is for the number one contender spot. Edwards is getting the next shot, be it interim or undisputed. After that there would either be Usman vs Chimaev (if Usman beats Edwards), Usman vs Edwards III (if Edwards beats Usman), or the unification bout (if interim title fight between Edwards and Chimaev). In any case, I think the winner of Luque or Muhammad will likely need another win in order to guarantee their own title shot and I don't know who could give them the rub more than Gilbert Burns. The loser would also make some sense because the UFC prefers to match up fighters coming off of losses if they can. It isn't often they multiple fighters in the top 6 are coming off of losses with their timelines so closely matched, so that is a fight that will make itself. Due to the proximity of their timelines, I think that Luque or Belal represent the most likely options for Burns just because their schedules will align so closely. If they opt to drop Burns a little lower in the rankings, there are some more options there. Names like Neil Magny, Sean Brady, and Michael Chiesa all make varying degrees of sense if they want Burns to take a step down in competition. Because that is such a steep drop, I don't think they will care as much about whether someone is coming off of a win or loss. Neil Magny is always ready for a tough fight and I would love to see him get a push up the rankings. Chiesa is coming off of a loss, so that aligns with the UFC's tendencies, but that feels like the least likely option. Sean Brady is another young contender that the UFC is trying to build, so I wouldn't mind seeing that fight at all. I'm not sure how Brady would look in that fight, but I imagine they want to continue to have him fight up and I think Gilbert makes as much sense as anyone. They could have him fight Stephen Thompson, but I don't think Thompson would prefer another grappler and I don't think they want Brady to fight someone with that huge of a striking advantage. If I had to pick one of these options for Gilbert, I think Sean Brady is the guy, but I think he is third in the overall picture behind both Vicente Luque and Belal Muhammad.
What do you guys think? What did you think of the fight? How did you score it? Were you impressed with Khamzat Chimaev? Who should he fight next? What did you think of Gilbert Burns? Who should he get in his next appearance? Leave your thoughts and comments below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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