Khamzat Chimaev and Gilbert Burns have agreed to stage a rematch over five rounds after the Swedish star earned the nod in a close fight at UFC 273.
The pair battled in the 'Fight Of The Night' at welterweight with Chimaev having his hand raised by decision despite being dropped twice in the fight. Burns' put a brave fight and came extremely close to a stoppage of his own, with UFC president Dana White rewarding him with a win bonus even after defeat.
Now the pair have agreed to a second bout on social media, with Burns tweeting: "If you call the cops and they don’t show up you know who to call, five rounds." Chimaev quickly fired back: "In five rounds I will take your soul, see you soon boy."
Chimaev has a growing reputation in the promotion and has recorded a remarkable rise which has culminated in a rankings rise to No.3 at 170lbs. UFC kingpin White confirmed that Chimaev would l ikely face leading contender Colby Covington next after his victory in an effective title eliminator for champion Kamaru Usman's belt.
The 'Nigerian Nightmare' is expected to first defend his belt against Leon Edwards upon his return from injury later this year. He has also been called out by Chimaev who was also keen to challenge Covington and Edwards on social media in the aftermath of his victory. Chimaev made a brutal assessment of his performance after defeating Burns admitting that he was took keen to seek a stoppage during the fight.
“I was too excited to knock him out,” Chimaev explained at the UFC 273 post-fight press conference. “I was saying to everybody all week I was going to knock him out in one round. I tried to knock him out. That was wrong for me, from the beginning. The guy was tough, I didn’t accept that. From the first second to the last second, I tried to finish him.
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"Next time, I’m going to work to be a little bit smarter. I’m going to smash somebody. It wasn’t something surprising from him, but it was wrong for me. My coach told me all the time, you love to throw down and work more technical. I just want to take his head off. Next time, I’m going to work for that.”
Burns was hailed for his brave performance but now finds himself frozen out of the immediate title picture with a growing queue of challengers' waiting to make their bid for Usman's crown. Former UFC two-weight champion Henry Cejudo believes Chimaev should steer away from any shot against Usman in the near-future after his recent display.
That was the right call," Cejudo told The Schmo. "But if Chimaev goes out there and fights The Nigerian nightmare like that, he's in big trouble man. We just saw him kind of become human here."
