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Rising Swedish MMA sensation Khamzat Chimaev fights Gilbert Burns on Saturday, April 9, at the VyStar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, at UFC 273. Despite the large gap in their divisional rankings, UFC honcho Dana White asserted that the fight could be a potential title eliminator.
Kamaru Usman currently sits atop the welterweight throne while also being the UFC's P4P king. Having successfully defended his belt five times, 'The Nigerian Nightmare' is expected to face Leon Edwards after recovering from his recent surgery.
While speaking on his podcast The Schaub Show, Brendan Schaub highlighted how a decisive finish from Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 273 could potentially land the promotion in a predicament with regards to the welterweight title picture:
"If he [Chimaev] goes in there and absolutely starches him [Burns]... He [Chimaev] puts the UFC in quite the predicament because the UFC has promised Leon Edwards a title shot... God, has he [Edwards] earned it, right?"
"But... the demand for Khamzat to get a title shot if he completely beats the s**t out of Gilbert Burns is going to be so insane, and the UFC's about money. They're about money, they're not about doing the right thing all the time... What do you do? We know it's going to get numbers... and it's Kamaru vs. Khamzat. And Khamzat's not going to be around welterweight too long."
Schaub did go on to state that he believes the UFC will do the right thing by giving 'Rocky' his shot at welterweight gold. The former UFC heavyweight lauded Chimaev's hunger to compete and suggested a fight against No.1-ranked Colby Covington, while Edwards aims to capture the belt from Usman.
Watch the segment and episode below:
Brendan Schaub predicts Khamzat Chimaev will move to middleweight after two fights
Standing nearly 6'2" tall, Khamzat Chimaev is bigger than the average 170lb fighter. Although he has fought at both welterweight and middleweight, many believe he'd be better suited for 185lbs.
During the same podcast episode, Brendan Schaub predicted Chimaev would move up a weight class after two more fights at welterweight. Schaub believes 'Borz' will get tired of living on a diet and restricting himself to meet the 170lb limit. He said:
"I think he [Chimaev] has two more fights at welterweight before he's sick of being on a diet all the go**amn time... He's a bigger guy... Gilbert Burns, he passes that test... you give him Colby Covington and then he'll just wait for Kamaru Usman and then it's on to the middleweights. Because he's naturally a middleweight."
Although Khamzat Chimaev has proven he can perform in both weight classes and has even called out Israel Adesanya, he first needs to climb the welterweight ladder by getting past a very tough Gilbert Burns.
