Khamzat Chimaev faced his first bit of adversity inside this octagon at UFC 273, and while some believe that Chimaev has now been exposed, UFC President Dana White could not disagree more.
On Saturday at UFC 273, Chimaev beat Gilbert Burns by unanimous decision. It was a tough-fought fight. Chimaev lost the fight to Burns in the second round, which was a marked departure from his past UFC bouts. UFC President Dana White said that the fight was the “Fight of the Year” nominee and one of the greatest ever.
“It’s one of the best fights I’ve ever seen, it’s one of the coolest fights I’ve ever been to,” White said at the post-fight press conference. The place was packed and the crowd went wild. That fight was eclipsing the co-main and main event all week, and I was talking to [UFC commentator Joe] Rogan, and [UFC matchmaker] Sean [Shelby], and [UFC matchmaker] Mick [Maynard], and everyone else, think about this: when is the last time you saw a guy come out of nowhere, nobody knows who he is, then fights a couple fights and then fights the No. 2-ranked guy in the world and wins? When you get into the top-5 in the UFC, it’s no joke, man. Especially in that division. This division is a straight-killer. He passed .”
tonight, which was an enormous test.
Chimaev won the fight, although MMA fans have harsh words for him. Given the massive amount of hype surrounding him coming into this fight, and the fact that he was a huge betting favorite over Burns, some fans were to quick to claim that Chimaev had been exposed as another hype job, after struggling against Burns, a notion that Dana White finds ludicrous.
” Well, he is human, White stated. “Any a****** that said that doesn’t think he’s human. He’s a human being and he just beat the No. 2 welterweight in the world with a couple of fights in the UFC. If you don’t think he’s the real deal, you’re out of your mind. Yeah, he’s human.
“Till keeps telling me, ‘This guy never gets tired, he never runs out of energy,’ but you can’t train in a gym for what happened tonight. You can’t. He can’t. After the first round, I can be sure that there was an adrenaline rush. You can’t prepare for this. It’s a grueling workout that you just don’t have the time to master. He passed with flying colors.”
The next fight for Chimaev seems to be with Colby Covington, the former interim champion. White stated that this was the fight UFC 273, would pursue if Chimaev beat Burns. This fight could be the main event on an ABC card and White believes it’s still the right fight.
“I don’t know, but it’s big,” White said. You saw tonight. We’re in Jacksonville, Fla., with a Russian and Brazilian [as] the biggest fight of the night, and everybody’s going crazy, so I think it’s a big fight.”
