Gilbert Burns believes Kamaru Usman has two advantages that could help him beat Khamzat Chimaev on Saturday, October 21.
At UFC 294, Chimaev looks to remain undefeated by taking out Usman, who stepped in for Paulo Costa on short notice.
Plenty of fans, fighters, and analysts have given their breakdown for the intriguing matchup, but only one person has fought ‘Borz’ and ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ in the Octagon – Gilbert Burns.
During an appearance on DC & RC, Burns started breaking down the UFC 294 co-main event by saying this about Chimaev:
“I think Khamzat is the hungriest right now. He want to make a name. He want to become a champion. The guy can fight. Don’t count Kamaru out. Kamaru can fight too. The thing I like about Kamaru is two things in this fight. I like a lot of things on Khamzat in that fight.”
Gilbert Burns followed up by explaining Usman’s advantages against Chimaev:
“For Kamaru, specifically, two things, he don’t need to do no weight cutting, and this guy fought so many five rounds, like so many five rounds. Now he’s fighting only three rounds.Ok, it’s ten days, but it’s three rounds.”
Burns continued:
“This guy has three rounds in the bag all day. He’s gonna be good for three rounds. The crazy thing is he don’t need to cut weight. That’s a good thing…Those are two things that help Kamaru big time.”
Gilbert Burns suffered a third-round TKO loss against Kamaru Usman for the UFC welterweight title in February 2021.‘Durinho’ bounced back with a win against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson’ before suffering a unanimous decision loss against Chimaev in a 2022 Fight of the Year contender.
Since then, the Brazilian has gone 2-1, with his latest Octagon appearance being a unanimous decision loss against Belal Muhammad in May of this year.
Gilbert Burns leads toward Khamzat Chimaev winning “50/50 fight” against Kamaru Usman
There’s no doubt that Kamaru Usman has several paths to victory on Saturday. With that said, it’ll be easier said than done for him to win, as Khamzat Chimaev has looked nearly unbeatable since making his UFC debut, and he’s coming in with a full training camp.
During the previously-mentioned appearance on DC & RC, Gilbert Burns had this to say when contemplating who will win in the UFC 294 co-main event:
“Don’t ask me to pick a winner because that is a very hard one to pick. I think it’s kinda 50-50. I’ll give a little bit more edge to Khamzat just because he was getting ready to face a monster in Paulo Costa, so he’s been the middleweight. He’s heavy, he’s big, but, man, that’s a close fight.”
Khamzat Chimaev vs. Kamaru Usman won’t be the only short-notice fight at UFC 294. In the main event, Islam Makhachev will defend his lightweight title in a highly-anticipated rematch against Alexander Volkanovski.
Makhachev was supposed to fight Paulo Costa before the latter pulled out with a gruesome elbow injury.
Watch Gilbert Burns’ entire appearance on DC & RC below:
