Robert Whittaker admits Khamzat Chimaev would lose to Gilbert Burns if the fight took place later in his career
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Robert Whittaker on Khamzat Chimaev vs Gilbert Burns
The Khamzat Chimaev vs Gilbert Burns fight at UFC 273 absolutely blew off Robert Whittaker. The former middleweight champion reacts to the amazing fight in a recent interview.
The world witnessed one of the greatest UFC three-round fights of all time at UFC 273. After walking through all of his opponents in his professional career, Khamzat Chimaev was presented an opportunity to take on #2 ranked Gilbert Burns after only 4 fights in the promotion. The rising welterweight superstar was shown levels by Burns after an absolute barn-burner.
Chimaev won the fight via unanimous decision after showing great heart despite being hit by some huge blows. Robert Whittaker, the former middleweight champion recently sad down for an interview with The Submission Radio and he spoke about the Khamzat vs Burns fight. Whittaker has a very interesting take on the fight as he believes the result of the fight would’ve been much different if Khamzat was already a few years into his career.
“It was a nuts fight. It was great,” said Whittaker. I think what played into Khamzat’s favor was the fact that throughout his career he has taken little no head damage.” Leading up to the Burns fight, Khamzat was only hit with two significant strikes by his opponents and in the Gilbert fight the welterweight prospect took a massive 119 significant strikes.
Robert Whittaker says Khamzat Chimaev will stay in the top for a long time
“I think if Khamzat fought that fight in a few years times, after fighting killers like Burns, at the food chain, for a while, he doesn’t make it through that fight,” said Whittaker in the interview. “He took some massive shots and Burns switches dudes off. But he fought like he had been in the top ten for a while and that’s where I think he will stay there for a while.”
Whittaker believes Khamzat fought the highest of caliber and not many would be able to perform like he did. Khamzat had only 10 fights in his entire professional mixed martial arts career and finished all of his opponents. “Borz” also has a few fights in the middleweight division but it looks like the fighter would most likely end up getting the welterweight title shot in the near future.
Watch the Whhittaker’s comments on Khamzat below:
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