Tomorrow night on the main card of UFC 273, we will see a welterweight contest that could easily headline the event. Being dubbed “The People’s Main Event”, rising superstar Khamzat Chimaev (10-0) faces his biggest test yet in former title challenger Gilbert Burns (20-4).
Burns is looking to pick up his second straight win and get the superstar rub from sharing the octagon with Chimaev. It’s crazy to think about how big of an underdog Burns is tomorrow considering he’s 7-1 in the UFC’s welterweight division.
The lone loss came against the welterweight champion and Pound for Pound king, Kamaru Usman. Nevertheless, the oddsmakers are giving him little to no shot to beat Khamzat Chimaev. Burns is entering the octagon tomorrow having won against Wonderboy Thompson in his last time out.
There’s been no one quite like Khamzat Chimaev that’s ever debuted in the UFC. That includes Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Chimaev is a special athlete who has been historically dominant in his first four fights.
Fighting twice at middleweight and twice at welterweight, the UFC star is 4-0 with four finishes. However, it’s the fact that he’s only absorbed one strike in those fights that really tells the true story of his dominance.
UFC 273 Prediction
We are going to learn a lot about Khamzat Chimaev when he fights Gilbert Burns. Either we will all be saying that he was hyped up a little too much or everyone will be dubbing him the future welterweight champion of the UFC.
When it comes to this fight, it’s a tough one for Gilbert Burns. Burns has dynamic striking and he’s incredibly fast. However, there is going to be a massive power discrepancy between him and Chimaev. Chimaev also has great speed so Durinho is going to have to be careful striking with Chimaev.
Burns is a BJJ champion, but I don’t think he will be able to submit a guy like Chimaev. I think if Chimaev gets on top of Burns at UFC 273, Burns is going to have a hard time surviving the shots coming down let alone trying to find a submission.
Maybe I’m crazy, but I’ve completely bought into the Khamzat Chimaev hype train. I think Burns is his toughest opponent on paper, but I think Chimaev is going to make it look fairly easy again.
Prediction: Khamzat Chimaev by TKO – Round 2