Everybody has something to say about Khamzat Chimaev’s crazy weight miss at UFC 279. That includes former foe Gilbert Burns.
The one-time UFC title challenger took on Chimaev at UFC 273, where he’d lose a split decision to the rising star. Before hitting each other, both men would hit the scales at welterweight with no issues. However, the same can’t be said for Chimaev’s next fight following the win over Burns.
It’s Not About How You Start, It’s About How You Finish
‘Borz’ would weigh in seven pounds heavy and the biggest fight of his life against Nate Diaz would be cancelled. Chimaev ultimately got his hand raised at UFC 279, but it came at a catchweight bout against Kevin Holland. Burns would give his thoughts on the whole ordeal in an interview with MMA Junkie.
“It doesn’t matter how you started, it matters how you finish it,” Burns said of Chimaev’s weight miss. “Don’t matter if that guy starts so big, so impressive, it matters how you finish. As we see, as the fight is going, it’s not showing a good [impression]. I don’t know, the fans might like all the drama or not making weight like canceling your press conference, a lot of things. It’s hard to see a good path for this guy that making a lot of mistakes on just the beginning of his career.”
Burns Gives Advice To Chimaev
Following the weight controversy, Burns would offer up some professional advice to Chimaev.
“One of the best advice that I had is you need to have guys that give you advice. Like I have guys that give me advice on money. I have my parents that give me advice on family. I have guys that give me advice from fighting. I have my manager, I have a lot of guys that gimme advice on my life. He needs those kind of guys, not just a bunch of crazy fighters that kinda go on his ego and make him go crazy.
“I think he’s still super young and I hope he changes, but Khabib even said one thing that he needed more Muslims [around him]. With that being said, translating that, he needed good guys around him, like good mentor, good guys to help him out. I think the guys that he has around don’t help him making the good decisions.”
Burns Hopes Chimaev Doesn’t Move Up In Weight Class
“I hope so,” Burns said of Chimaev potentially staying at welterweight. “I know a lot of guys were celebrating that he’s going up. No, I want him to stay at 170. I think he can stay, he just gotta be disciplined. It’s not just discipline. If you sign a contract, you put an arm in there, your name is on it, you sign it, you gotta honor there. You gotta be a man. I think he just too young, a lot of hype, a lot of things, a lot of guys sucking on him not being like good friends, good mentors, that’s all he needs and he needs to honor that contract.
“I lost a couple fights that because I had a very bad weight cut, but I’m still making the weight. He just gotta man up, make sure he got good mentors, good manager, good coaches, people that are gonna tell him the truth and gonna help him to be the best he can be and honor the contract when he signing.”
