Gilbert Burns is open to facing Khamzat Chimaev in the very near future.
Chimaev was the talk of the UFC in 2020 as he picked up two wins in 10 days on Fight Island and followed that up with a one-punch KO win over Gerald Meerschaert. The Swede then dealt with COVID-19 and wasn’t able to return until UFC 267 at the end of October where he submitted Li Jingliang in a dominant performance.
Now, after the win, many wondered what would be next for Chimaev and Burns appears willing to give him the shot if none of the top-ranked guys want to fight him.
“I think so. I think he’s real,” Burns said to MMAJunkie. “I think he’s been tested. People say, ‘Oh, no. He’s just no.’ I think he fought a couple of good fighters. And the other thing, too, the way he beat them. Sometimes people don’t understand the matchmaker. Sometimes they feed you. They want new contenders. They want new stars, and they feed a couple guys.
“But sometimes they don’t destroy the guys the way they should. Even the matchmaker is just like, ‘Hey, feed that guy. He don’t want to eat.’ But he’s been doing a great job, you know, and I think he’s real,” Burns continued. “I think I’m going to face him very soon. I think he needs one more win, and I think he’ll have (the win). And if things keep going like that, like Colby doesn’t even say my name, Masvidal, Leon. Why not? I’ll give him the opportunity.”
Although Gilbert Burns is open to fighting Khamzat Chimaev next time out, he says the ideal plan is to fight Colby Covington next. It is a fight he has wanted for years and after “Chaos” lost to Kamaru Usman at UFC 268 for the belt, he believes the time is now to make the fight happen.
