What is one fight that Paul Felder was super proud to call as a commentator? To Felder, it has to be Khamzat Chimaev vs. Gilbert Burns.
The retired lightweight has seen tons of great scraps in his hay-day as a UFC broadcaster. However, not many can be compared to the action that we saw between Burns & Chimaev at UFC 273. Luckily for ‘The Irish Dragon’, he had the best seats in the house, being in the commentators booth for this stellar matchup.
Felder would describe just how much fun he had calling the fight-of-the-year contender.
“Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev is probably the most insane, awesome, fun experience I’ve ever had calling a fight. That was everything that I had hoped for in a matchup,” Felder said on the Throwing Down Podcast.
It turns out Chimaev vs. Burns wasn’t even the fight Felder was most excited for, in the lead-up to UFC 273. You can say it exceeded all his expectations.
“When everybody asked me about 273, I was obviously excited for Volkanovski and Zombie. I’m a huge Zombie fan. And obviously I like Aljamain Sterling, and I think Petr Yan’s one of the baddest dudes on the planet, but that [Chimaev] fight, everybody wanted answers to how good is Khamzat.
“Is he really all this and a bag of chips? I think Khamzat is all that. Maybe he’s not yet the bag of chips quite yet.”
‘Burns Is Probably The Baddest Dude Ever’
Obviously it takes two to tango. Felder would give Gilbert Burns his props for putting on quite the show against the much hyped ‘Borz’.
“Gilbert burns is probably the baddest dude ever. He knew he was in for that kind of fight. You could tell on the way he walked in the cage, the way he was taking those deep breaths… this is gonna be insane.
“And man, he almost got him out of there a couple times. He landed some, some big shots. That was a super close fight. Some people are still arguing today that it should have gone to Gilbert. I don’t know, it was so close.”
"That was everything that I had hoped for in a matchup."
Paul Felder (@felderpaul) reflects on calling the 3-round brawl between Khamzat Chimaev & Gilbert Burns at #UFC273
⬇️ Full convo w/ @ReneePaquette & @MieshaTate on the Throwing Down Podcast!https://t.co/oz1aLXiJqh pic.twitter.com/YFHIITkkAp
— MMA on SiriusXM (@MMAonSiriusXM) April 12, 2022
