Khamzat Chimaev’s biggest fight yet has just been booked. The welterweight sensation is scheduled to meet Gilbert Burns at UFC’s April 9th pay-per-view event, per an announcement made by the promotion Saturday.
The fight is now part of UFC 273, which will take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
Chimaev has shown dominance in his four UFC victories thus far. The undefeated prospect picked up his last win in October 2021, submitting Li Jingliang in the first round via rear naked choke.
Chimaev’s first year in the UFC saw him score three wins in just three months. However, a bout with COVID-19 later that year caused him to stop competing and even retire for a short period of time. While this brief absence from the sport slowed his momentum, the win he picked up in October showed he is ready to compete at a high level again.
Burns, a former title challenger, will be a big name for Chimaev to face.
Burns is coming off a unanimous decision win that he earned over Stephen Thompson last year. That fight put him back into the win column after suffering a loss to UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman.
Before Burns took that loss early last year, he had an impressive six-fight winning steak from 2018 to 2020.
Two title fights are currently set to headline UFC 273. Here is how the card looks now:
Bout 14: Alexander Volkanovski (23-1) vs. The Korean Zombie (17-6) (UFC Featherweight Championship)
Bout 13: Aljamain Sterling (20-3) vs. Petr Yan (16-2) (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Bout 12: Irene Aldana (13-6) vs. Aspen Ladd (9-2) (Bantamweight)
Bout 11: Pat Sabatini (16-3) vs. Gavin Tucker (13-2) (Featherweight)
Bout 10: Mickey Gall (7-4) vs. Mike Malott (7-1-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 9: Jairzinho Rozenstruick (12-3) vs. Marcin Tybura (22-7) (Heavyweight)
Bout 8: Mackenzie Dern (11-2) vs. Tecia Torres (13-5) (Strawweight)
Bout 7: Kelvin Gastelum (17-8) vs. Nassourdine Imavov (11-3) (Middleweight)
Bout 6: Vinc Pichel (14-2) vs. Mark O. Madsen (11-0) (Lightweight)
Bout 5: Dricus Du Plessis (16-2) vs. Chris Curtis (28-8) (Middleweight)
Bout 4: Piera Rodriguez (7-0) vs. Kay Hansen (7-5) (Strawweight)
Bout 3: Albert Duraev (15-3) vs. Anthony Hernandez (8-2) (Middleweight)
Bout 2: Ian Garry (8-0) vs. Darian Weeks (5-1) (Welterweight)
Bout 1: Gilbert Burns (20-4) vs. Khamzat Chimaev (10-0) (Welterweight)
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