The No. 2 welterweight in the world understands that his fight next weekend at UFC 273 is a big risk.
Gilbert Burns puts his No. 2 ranking on the line next weekend against No. 11 ranked Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 273. To say this is a big fight might be an understatement, especially for what’s riding on it. If Burns pulls off the upset, it puts him right back in line to rematch former teammate Kamaru Usman, something he thinks should happen. But, on the other hand, if Chimaev wins, he leapfrogs over everyone and gets the title shot himself and puts Burns on the backburner.
Big Risk
With those situations possibly being brought up, Burns knows this is a risky fight. He spoke with Hablemos MMA about the big risk he is taking.
“I have two objectives in the UFC. The first is to fight against the toughest in the division, and the second is to become champion. And to be a champion you need to fight against whoever. I’m not going to be picking and choosing: ‘Oh I want this one, I want that one.’ No,” Burns said.
“Whoever the UFC puts in front of me, I’ll fight. I wanted to fight with Colby [Covington], but he had a fight, so Khamzat was the only one that wanted to fight. I know he’s a big risk and he’s No. 11 and very tough, but if I want to be champion, I need to fight everyone. I’m following the example of Glover Teixeira and Charles Oliveira. I need to fight everyone. He’s tough and a big risk, but I still want to fight him.”
Usman rematch
With a win over Chimaev, a rematch with Usman is very possible, and that he what he ultimately wants, especially because of the mistakes he made in their first meeting at UFC 258.
“That’s my objective. I made many mistakes against Kamaru and I was able to look at the fight and identify all the mistakes and see what I can do better. I’ve been working extremely hard to earn the next opportunity for the belt. I’m working really hard. So that’s my objective: take all challengers and wins and fight for the title,” Burns said.
Burns vs. Chimaev goes down next weekend at UFC 273. Stick to Middle Easy for all of your coverage.
