Khamzat Chimaev’s failure to finish Gilbert Burns at UFC 273 is the best thing for his career
- ‘Borz’ defeats former welterweight title challenger by unanimous decision, but fails to find a finish for first time in his career
- Surprising outcome will make the undefeated Chechen-born Swede a more credible challenge to champion Kamaru Usman
Khamzat Chimaev wanted to finish Gilbert Burns at UFC 273, but his failure to do so might have been the best thing for his career.
The 27-year-old Chechen-born Swede met Brazil’s Burns, a former welterweight title challenger, on the event’s main card on Saturday night in Jacksonville, Florida.
The fight was Chimaev’s fifth in the UFC after victories over John Phillips, Rhys McKee, Gerald Meerschaert and Li Jingliang in his first four bouts with the promotion. He won all of those fights by stoppage – two by knockout and two by submission – in less than 15 minutes combined, and also finished all of his fights before arriving in the UFC.
Despite the fact Burns, the UFC’s No 2-ranked welterweight, was far and away the toughest test of Chimaev’s career, the prevailing opinion was that the Russian would keep his finishing streak alive at UFC 273.
But that is not what happened.
Instead, Burns was quick to establish himself as a fighter that deserved far more respect than he was getting, defending Chimaev’s early takedown attempts and responding with cracking leg kicks and punches.
Chimaev cranked up the offence in rounds two and three, and landed plenty of meaningful strikes, but got it as good as he gave it until the final round concluded.
In the end, the unbeaten contender earned a unanimous decision victory for his efforts, but his failure to finish Burns came as a surprise to many viewers – and forced him to confront his mistakes.
“It’s not like something surprising for me,” a badly bruised Chimaev (11-0) said at the UFC 273 post-fight press conference, looking back on his gruelling win. “It was wrong for me. Coach told me all the time ‘work more technical’. I just wanted to take his head off like always. Next time I will work on that.”
It is easy to understand Chimaev’s frustration with his own performance. Had he blown Burns away like he did his previous UFC opponents, he would most likely have spent the post-fight press conference fielding questions about an imminent title shot against welterweight champion Kamaru Usman.
Yet he may find that his failure to finish Burns (20-5) will be beneficial for his career in the long term.
As impressive as Chimaev had been heading into UFC 273, he was becoming a victim of his own success. He had proven emphatically that he was a venomous finisher on the feet and on the mat, but his blitzkrieg victories did not give us a lot to go on.
We knew nothing about his chin or his gas tank because none of his opponents had been able to hit him or drag him into the later rounds or hit him cleanly. We knew nothing of how he would respond if a finish failed to materialise or worse, if he found himself in danger, because he won his fights with such ease.
He was at once the sport’s brightest talent and its biggest mystery.
The former is seemingly still true. The latter is not.
At UFC 273, we saw Chimaev adjust his game plan when he was unable to finish Burns in the early going. We saw him absorb some vicious shots to the legs, body and head, and keep marching forward. We saw him fight his heart out for 15 frenetic minutes without showing any obvious shortcomings in the cardio department.
His decision win might not have been as valuable as a quick finish in the short-term, as he will probably need another win before he is awarded a title shot. Yet it was probably the best thing for him in the long term, as it proved he is not just an excellent fighter when things are going his way, but also when things are not.
That information makes him a far more credible challenge to the champion than another quick finish would have, and he seems to recognise this.
“I showed my heart,” he said post-fight. “I’m tougher than everyone and I will smash them all.”
