Gilbert Burns hopes that Khamzat Chimaev will be staying in the welterweight division, instead of making the move to middleweight.
Chimaev ran into some difficulties when he missed weight for his last bout against Nate Diaz at welterweight. The biggest issue was that Chimaev was almost nine pounds overweight for his fight. Thus raises the question, can Chimaev continue to make weight at welterweight for future bouts?
Dana White had hoped that Chimaev would make a move to middleweight, but he also didn’t shoot down the notion of Chimaev sticking around at welterweight. White did encourage Chimaev to pick a weight class and stay to it.
Gilbert Burns gave Chimaev his toughest fight to this point of his career and hopes that he stays in the welterweight division
“I think he’s just too young. A lot of hype, a lot of things. … I lost a couple of fights because I had a very bad weight cut, but I still make the weight, you know? I don’t know, he’s just got to man up. Make sure he gets good mentors, good managers, good coaches, and people that gonna tell him the truth and help him be the best he can be, and honor the contract when he signs it.” Burns said in an interview with MMA Junkie.
While Burns believes that many fighters in his division are celebrating Chimaev’s move to middleweight, he would like him to stay. Burns has said since their fight ended, that he wanted another shot at the Swede. The fight was razor thin and could have gone either way on the judge’s scorecards.
“I hope so,” Burns said regards to Chimaev remaining at welterweight. “I know a lot of guys were celebrating that he’s going up. No, I want him to stay at 170. I think he can stay, just got to be disciplined, (but) it’s not just discipline. If you sign a contract and you put your name on it, you sign it, you gotta own it. You gotta be a man.”
Would you like to see Chimaev stay in the welterweight division, or fully commit to the middleweight move?