Chimaev had a more difficult time than he did in his first four UFC wins, but he proved he can beat an elite foe.
The screeching sound you may have heard late Saturday night if you were anywhere near Jacksonville, Florida, was the Khamzat Chimaev hype train slowing its roll. Gilbert Burns was the one applying the brakes. Burns had been bloodied and beaten down in a brutal opening round, but he had survived. And as his UFC 273 fight against the skyrocketing star that is Chimaev moved into the second round, Burns started to seize control. This was unlike anything we had seen in Chimaev’s first four UFC outings. This time he was in a competitive fight. And Chimaev showed that he was up to the challenge. After a back-and-forth three rounds, during which each man landed big punches and had big moments, Chimaev got the nod from all three judges (29-28,29-28,29-28) to prove something vital and sustainable. Chimaev showed that he belongs in the Octagon with the elite of the UFC’s welterweight division. The hype train keeps chugging along. This victory was far different than the nights of Chimaev’s total domination that had come before. In each of his previous appearances, Chimaev had looked superhuman in piling up video game-type numbers. A 124-2 edge in total strikes in his UFC debut. A 68-0 shutout in his return 10 days later. A 17-second one-punch knockout in his third appearance. Then another striking shutout (58-0) while talking to UFC president Dana White at cageside during the fight! Superhuman, indeed. If the PPV is purchased, all fights from UFC 273: Volkanovski vs. Jung will be available to watch on ESPN+. • Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. Chan Sung Jung • Aljamain Sterling (c) vs. Petr Yan (ic) • Gilbert Burns vs. Khamzat Chimaev • Mackenzie Dern vs. Tecia Torres • Mark O. Madsen vs. Vinc Pichel • Ian Garry vs. Darian Weeks • Anthony Hernandez vs. Josh Fremd • Aspen Ladd vs. Raquel Pennington • Mickey Gall vs. Mike Malott • Aleksei Oleinik vs. Jared Vanderaa • Piera Rodriguez vs. Kay Hansen • Julio Arce vs. Daniel Santos Watch the complete card on ESPN+ PPV But those performances came against John Phillips, Rhys McKee, Gerald Meerschaert and Li Jingliang. Every one of them was a perfectly appropriate foe for a fighter new to the UFC, but the only one of them you’ll find in the rankings is Li, who’s way down in the double digits. Standing across the cage from Chimaev on Saturday was a fighter on a whole different level. Burns is a multiple-time jiu-jitsu world champion barely a year removed from a challenge for the UFC title. Among welterweights, Burns sits behind only champion Kamaru Usman and two-time challenger Colby Covington in both the UFC and ESPN rankings. For Chimaev, this was no small step up in competition.
