JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Just four fights into his UFC profession, Khamzat Chimaev is already 1 of the most preferred athletes on the promotion’s complete roster. Forward of the most important fight of his burgeoning job, the 27-12 months-old welterweight isn’t really shy on predicting greatness from himself relocating forward.
With Chimaev (10- MMA, 4- UFC) dealing with former welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns (20-4 MMA, 13-4 UFC) on the shell out-for each-view most important card of Saturday’s UFC 273, lots of think he’ll generate a title shot of his very own with an spectacular gain.
Chimaev thinks he’s by now the titleholder, pointing to the recent actions of reigning champion Kamaru Usman, as perfectly as leading contender Leon Edwards, as evidence of his place.
“I am by now the champ,” Chimaev instructed MMA Underground at Wednesday’s media working day. “The guys, they never want to struggle me. 1 person goes out and has operation or a thing. He wishes to go do the boxing someplace and he can correct his arm. Are we going to go do the boxing? I you should not know.
“The other person talked, he did not battle somebody best-10. They normally locate some justification, you know? I’m completely ready. I’m currently the champ. Folks know that.”
Usman, who lately underwent surgical procedures to fix some lingering troubles in his suitable hand, is presently sidelined but has been steadily contacting for a boxing match with pound-for-pound great Canelo Alvarez. In the meantime, Edwards now sits at No. 3 in the UFC’s official welterweight rankings but hasn’t fought because this previous June, when he largely cruised to a conclusion win more than Nate Diaz, save for a tumultuous closing round that saw him clipped and wobbled.
Usman and Edwards are envisioned to satisfy sometime this summer months, but Chimaev isn’t going to feel which is the struggle lovers want to see, even if UFC president Dana White has stated it really is the matchup he intends to make.
“If they do that struggle, does any individual care about that struggle?” Chimaev questioned. “I don’t believe so. Dana White would like to make that fight. Leon Edwards, no person understands that guy, and Usman, he is the same. No one would like to see those men. They would want to see me there and smash them each. If they give me the two guys exact same night, I am likely to smash them equally.”
The UFC, of system, isn’t really heading to e book Chimaev in opposition to two unique opponents on the very same night, but his bold claim somehow appears legitimate. Although the UFC has its share of major talkers, Chimaev’s issue-of-point delivery provides him a instead believable tone. Chimaev is just not being boisterous, he is basically laying out what he is completed so far and what he intends to do once more on Saturday evening.
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“I am heading to go in the cage and like I do generally: choose his head and go residence,” Chimaev claimed.
Khamzat Chimaev.
UFC-Handout Photo
Burns certainly sees issues in a different way. One of the couple potential opponents who willingly asked for a fight with Chimaev, “Durinho” at present sits at No. 2 in the UFC’s rankings and offers some of the finest grappling expertise in the division, with his earlier Global Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation planet titles serving as evidence.
Unsurprisingly, Chimaev is unimpressed.
“This is not jiu-jitsu,” Chimaev reported. “This is not wrestling. This is MMA. This is preventing. It is really not like consider the gi and keep any individual. I am going to smash his deal with just about everywhere.”
The UFC has still to formally announce Usman vs. Edwards. Formally, the delay is for Usman to get medically cleared to contend next his surgery, but there could be a bit of enterprise on the minds of the UFC brass, as perfectly. UFC 272 features a pair of title fights atop the invoice, but there
is no issue that Burns vs. Chimaev is receiving as significantly focus from both of those lovers and media as anything else on the card.
Will that translate into an instant title shot must Chimaev acquire? Time will explain to, but he is delighted to make his scenario.
“[Edwards] almost missing his final battle to Nate Diaz, that skinny guy,” Chimaev stated. “5 rounds, and last round, he receives tired. If he receives fatigued versus Diaz, what am I likely to do with this man? He is going to get that drained following initially minute, and I am going to knock him off. You know, it’s possible this dude is not that amount, not my level. so I you should not know.
“Men and women, they do not want to see that guy.”
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