Khamzat Chimaev and Gilbert Burns put on arguably the year’s best fight when they met at UFC 273, but Chimaev is confused as to why Burns wasn’t more upset about the loss.
In the wake of that thrilling April bout, which ended in a unanimous decision win for Chimaev, both fighters were showered with praise, and Burns has campaigned for a rematch. Chimaev climbed to the No. 3 spot at welterweight in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings and is next set to fight Nate Diaz in the main event of UFC 279 on Sept. 10.
Appearing on The MMA Hour, Chimaev questioned Burns’ handling of the situation, specifically about Burns taking pride in a competitive fight even though it didn’t end with his hand being raised.
“When I win my fight, that last fight, it was a tough fight for me,” Chimaev said. “Everyone was happy talking about, ‘He didn’t finish that guy.’ The guy was No. 2, one of the toughest guys. He almost won against [UFC welterweight champion Kamaru] Usman as well. Knocked him down, almost. I didn’t do my job, like how to do it, I didn’t listen to my coach.
“I made him famous. The guy was nothing before me. He lost, but I made him more famous. I was angry after that fight — I won the fight. I was angry because I didn’t finish that guy. It’s strange that some men are happy to lose a fight. He is going all over doing interviews going back to fight him again. He will not be a champ because it isn’t possible to win a fight if you are happy losing. …He said that he could win the fight in five rounds. If he was able to fight five rounds, then why would he be running away from me at this point? I was running after him the last two minutes, I was tired. If it was two more rounds, I would finish him.”
Chimaev clarified he is open to fighting Burns again, which is one of the reasons he hasn’t re-watched the first fight. His coach Andreas Michael previously revealed on The MMA Hour that he was upset with Chimaev brawling with Burns and not implementing boxing fundamentals. Chimaev released another video, in which he acknowledged that he didn’t follow the instructions.
Despite going to the scorecards in his first career, Chimaev feels that he won the matchup.
“Everyone’s saying he did good takedown defense,” Chimaev said. He was easy to take down. He falls down easily when I pick him up.
“All fight I forget the time, the rounds, the last round my coach comes to me, ‘Don’t fight with him like in the streets.’ Then I understand now I have to do something different. My fight .”
was won.
The Chechen fighter believes that he was still more upset by his narrow victory over Burns then he was about the loss. He won’t forget it if he loses to Diaz in UFC 279,.
As for why he was so aggressive in his promotion of the fight with Burns, Chimaev considers it to be part of the business.
“I don’t understand why some people lose, why they’re happy,” he said. I don’t get that. Everyone saying, ‘Gilbert did good, Gilbert did good. “He’s good,” he said. I start with MMA five years ago. My origins are not in the mainstream. I come from the f******* streets. I didn’t do anything professional. Wrestling for me was a hobby. While I worked as security, I also wrestled occasionally. I am now the Swedish champion. My friend said come to MMA, five years ago I start MMA, now I’m top-3 and I smashed that guy and everyone is talking about it.
” I’m also a human. Everybody thinks I am a robot. When I attend the press conference I do speak loudly, “I’m going smash that guy,” because it’s what I believe I am going to do. That’s why I say that I have to do it. Otherwise, I didn’t want to sit there and say, ‘I’m the humblest guy here,’ something like that. If you can’t earn money this way, it’s not a good job. It’s not what people want to see ***.”
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