Several current or former Ultimate Fighting Championship fighters wanted
to weigh in on a hotly anticipated contest this Saturday.
Even having two belts on the line on Saturday in the main and
co-main events of
UFC 273, much of the attention on the fight card is on the
welterweight battle between Gilbert
Burns and Khamzat
Chimaev. Burns (20-4) will come in as a huge betting underdog
despite being in the
top three of his division and a former title challenger. He
will take on unbeaten wrecking machine Chimaev (10-0), a man has
never needed more than two rounds to dispatch an opponent. On
Wednesday, Sherdog spoke to several Brazilian fighters that either
currently fight for the UFC or did so in the past to get their
opinions on the matchup.
Fabricio
Werdum, former UFC heavyweight champ: “No doubt Chimaev is one
of the most talented fighters that appeared in UFC lately. And it’s
not for being undefeated, but for the impressive way he beats tough
guys. Because of that domination, nobody wanted to face him. Being
the [number two] in the division Burns has to be respected for
accepting to face the 11th ranked guy. No doubt it’s going to be a
tough one, but I believe in Gilbert’s jiu-jitsu. It’s going to be
hard to take Chimaev to the ground, once Russians normally born
doing sambo and wrestling, but ‘Durinho’ is very explosive and has
improved a lot his striking skills. Besides having knockout power,
he is able to control the distance well as we could see in his last
fight against Stephen
Thompson. ‘Durinho’ will need to make a good strategy to
overcome the striking battle and submit Chimaev.”
Carlos
Barreto, former UFC fighter and current Combate color
commentator: “I see Chimaev as [the] favorite for the way he
conducts the first round. I believe he will come out speeding up as
always, and it will make it difficult for Burns to recover in the
second and third round. I believe Chimaev’s first round will decide
that fight.”
Deiveson
Figueiredo, UFC flyweight champion: “Wrestling will be very
important in that fight. If Burns is able to take Chimaev down, no
doubt he will dominate. In case Chimaev puts him down, he cannot
accept that, must stand up and use his explosion to surprise
Chimaev. I see ‘Durinho’ winning.”
Jailton
Almeida, UFC light heavyweight: “If ‘Durinho’ puts Chimaev
down, he has to finish or pound him. Chimaev normally takes
opponents down and looks for a submission like we saw against
Li
Jingliang, but against ‘Durinho,’ he must change a little bit
and use his wrestling to keep the fight standing. As a Brazilian,
I’m cheering for ‘Durinho,’ but as a professional I have to admit
that I built up my game over what Chimaev and [Khabib
Nurmagomedov] does in the Octagon.”
Davi
Ramos, former UFC fighter and Burns teammate: “Chimaev can’t do
jiu-jitsu with ‘Durinho.’ I believe he’s going to keep the fight
standing because he has better wrestling than ‘Durinho.’ Also, he
has a clear range advantage. I see great danger for ‘Durinho’ in
the stand-up game, and I don’t think Chimaev will try to put him
down. If he does that, he’ll be swept and, no doubt, ‘Durinho’
won’t lose that long neck Chimaev has.”