Gilbert Burns is confident he’ll cross paths with Khamzat Chimaev once again.
The former UFC welterweight title challenger and long-time contender Burns (20-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) wants a rematch with Chimaev (11-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) following their all-out war at Saturday’s UFC 273, which ended in a unanimous decision favoring Chimaev. The welterweight contest was one of the main feature fights on the pay-per-view and it was a closely contested bout that won Fight of the Night awards.
Burns wants to run it back, but understands that might have to wait a bit.
“The way I see it too, is that we’re not done,” Burns told TSN. “I do believe we’re not done. For sure he moves forward in the rankings and they want to make that Colby (Covington) fight. But the way I see it, I’m not afraid to fight anyone in this division. Time and time again I’ve proved it. … I just want one thing back from Khamzat, I want the courtesy.
“I was No. 2 and I fought No. 11. I want a rematch with Khamzat. If he beats Colby, he’s going to fight Kamaru and I just want my rematch in his next three fights. I want my rematch and I believe we’re not done and one guy needs to get a finish. It’s just a fight that should’ve been five rounds. It should be more rounds and I think we kind of missed out a little bit on this fight.”
The Brazilian pushed for the fight with Chimaev to be 25 minutes, but the UFC decided against it. There were already two title fights scheduled on the card for the main and co-main event. “Durinho” is confident he and Chimaev have a lot more to give to the fans.
“When they offered me this fight, I asked for five rounds,” Burns said. ” They sent me the contract and fought with Ali (Abdelaziz). I was like, ‘F*ck, I don’t want these three rounds, I want five rounds.’ (Abdelaziz said) ‘Oh, but they have these two title fights.’ And I said, ‘I don’t care, then make another one. I want five rounds.’ We went back and forth with the UFC and it ended up being three rounds. The fight was crazy entertaining, but I think if it was five rounds it would be way more entertaining.”
Following Burns’ comments, Chimaev responded on social media.
“In 5 rounds, I will take your soul, see you soon boy,” Chimaev wrote on Instagram.
