Gilbert Burns Eager To Fight Khamzat Chimaev In The Near Future

Unlike others in the division, Gilbert Burns is excited about the prospect of facing Khamzat Chimaev.

Burns is set to challenge Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title in the UFC 258 headliner which takes place February 13 in Las Vegas.

Should he get the victory and become the new welterweight champion, he could end up facing Chimaev next. That’s because the red-hot Chimaev is set to take on Leon Edwards on March 13 with many observers expecting him to get a title shot if he wins.

Of course, it took Chimaev quite a while to land a ranked contender in Edwards as the latter himself didn’t want to face an unranked opponent until he was pressured by the UFC. Other contenders like Stephen Thompson also had no interest in facing the unranked Chimaev.

However, Burns is eager to test himself against the undefeated prospect — regardless if he is ranked or not.

“Khamzat, I think I match up very good. I cannot wait to fight Chimaev,” Burns said on the TSN MMA Show (via MMA News). “He’s one of the guys that I really want to fight.

“I want to grapple, I want to scramble with him, I want to see his wrestling, how high level he is. I want to grapple with him. I want to scramble. I want to strike with him.”

Both fighters are managed by Ali Abdelaziz so it’s definitely possible that Burns is just bigging up a fellow client. However, the Brazilian has also shown that he is eager to face anyone, anytime so it would make sense that he is eager to face Chimaev whose stock is undoubtedly high within the sport.

Perhaps the stars will align and we will get to see that fight later this year.

Who do you have winning between Burns and Chimaev?