A big welterweight matchup looks to be on the horizon for the UFC’s April pay-per-view event.
UFC president Dana White told TSN on Monday that a fight between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev is being targeted for UFC 273, which takes place April 9 at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla.
MMA Fighting subsequently confirmed with multiple people with knowledge of the promotion’s plans that the highly anticipated bout is expected to take place on the card. The fight between Chimaev and Burns has been targeted for quite some time, and was officially offered this past month, per sources. There was a potential roadblock with Chimaev getting visa approval, but the undefeated fighter took to Instagram on Wednesday to share that he is in Las Vegas and the path to the fight seems clear.
“You are in big trouble now Gilbert Burns,” Chimaev stated.
After getting stopped by Kamaru Usman in his first title fight at UFC 258, Burns bounced back with a unanimous decision win over Stephen Thompson at July’s UFC 264 event. The No. 4 ranked fighter in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings has been victorious in seven of eight.
Chimaev has been a one-man wrecking crew since signing with the promotion. winning all four his bouts inside of two rounds. The No. 10 ranked welterweight in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings returned after a 13-month layoff at UFC 267 this past October and steamrolled Li Jingliang en route to a first-round submission.
UFC 273 will feature a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Chan Sung Jung, while Aljamain Sterling will put his bantamweight championship on the line in a rematch with interim champ Petr Yan.
Guilherme Cruz contributed to this report.
