After the biggest win of his career, Chimaev can enjoy a significant move in the rankings!

Khamzat Chimaev has his first real vetting under his belt. Over the weekend, he took on Gilbert Burns, one of the most feared welterweight fighters, at UFC 273, which offered two title fights. With the win, he made a significant move up the rankings.

The weekend’s UFC 273 tournament offered several interesting and great fights, but the fight of the night was definitely the duel between Khamzat Khimaev and Gilbert Burns, which was dominated on points by the Swedish fighter born in Chechnya.

Chimaev showed that in addition to wrestling and dominance on the ground, he can also fight in the stand-up position, where he can not only dish out punches, but also take them. In his first four fights in the UFC, he faced only one significant strike, taking 119 of them in one fight from Burns.

It’s worth noting that Chimaev entered the fight as the No. 11 ranked welterweight, while Burns was ranked just behind champion Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington. The Swedish fighter has never faced such a tough opponent. All the more credit to him.

But the big win also caused him to move up in the rankings. After Tuesday’s update of the rankings, he is in third place, Burns has dropped to fourth position, and Leon Edwards, probably the next challenger to the champion Usman, is in second place.

So Chimaev moved up 8 places. In the next match he will probably face another big challenge. He was probably hoping to fight for the title himself, but UFC boss Dana White wants to see him fight Covington first.

This measuring of strength could be very interesting in terms of the future of welterweight. Chimaev is expected to be the one to take Usman’s belt. However, the fight with Burns showed that he still has a lot to work on and he definitely has room for improvement.

Source: UFC