UFC 273: Khamzat Chimaev scrapes by Gilbert Burns in wild welterweight battle
- ‘Borz’ pushed to the brink by former title challenger in Jacksonville, but ultimately wins a unanimous decision
- ‘I didn’t know he was so tough,’ Chechen-born Swede says after Saturday night’s fight – ‘Gilbert, I love you brother’
Rising welterweight star Khamzat Chimaev is still unbeaten in MMA, but he may have lost some of his lustre.
The Chechen-born Swede returned to the Octagon in the middle bout of the UFC 273 main card on Saturday night in Jacksonville, Florida, taking on former welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns.
It was his fifth fight in the organisation, after winning his first four in less than 15 minutes combined, and far and away the starkest test of his career.
Chimaev ultimately passed that test, but it was not easy.
Burns proved himself a worthy adversary from the early going, denying his celebrated foe’s first takedown of the fight, and gradually pulling the Chechen into a bloody war of attrition.
Both men had their moments over the course of the fight’s three rounds – and both seemed to be on the verge of being finished at multiple points – but in the end, it was Chimaev who got his hand raised by unanimous decision.
