Tag: UFC 273

Rakhmonov: Chimaev Was Given Victory Over Burns Due To Popularity

UFC welterweight prospect Shavkat Rakhmonov believes that more than just fighting may have been considered in the Khamzat Chimaev vs. Gilbert Burns verdict. At UFC 273 in April, rising star Chimaev received a true litmus test of his championship credentials against two-time title challenger Burns. The pair went to war for three rounds, certainly securing…

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UFC welterweight prospect Shavkat Rakhmonov believes that more than just fighting may have been considered in the Khamzat Chimaev vs. Gilbert Burns verdict.

At UFC 273 in April, rising star Chimaev received a true litmus test of his championship credentials against two-time title challenger Burns. The pair went to war for three rounds, certainly securing their future place in the 2022 Fight of the Year discussion. Although given this past weekend’s headliner, they may have to settle for second place.

After 15 minutes of bloody and back and forth action, it was “Borz” who had his hand raised via unanimous decision, ascending him into the welterweight top five and to within touching distance of a title shot.

Given the close and competitive nature of the contest, it unsurprisingly split opinion. Now, joining Ian Garry as another Sanford MMA teammate backing Burns’ performance, surging prospect Rakhmonov seemingly believes that his Brazilian peer was unfortunate to walk way with a defeat.

During a recent interview with Combat Sports on Fanatics View, “Nomad” suggested that Chimaev’s popularity may have played a part in the Chechen-born Swede getting the nod over Burns.

“I think it was a very equal fight, in my opinion. But Khamzat, I believe, got the win because he’s more popular. Maybe that’s why he was awarded the win,” said Rakhmonov.

However, the #15-ranked welterweight also admitted that Burns’ defensive strategy in the final round likely cost him what would have been an upset victory over the highly touted Chimaev in Jacksonville.

“But first round I don’t know who won, could be Khamzat, could be Burns. Then it was pretty much an even fight. The third round, Khamzat was more of an aggressor. I think that is why Burns didn’t get the win, because he played too defensively,” added Rakhmonov. “But you never know, sometimes I don’t understand UFC judges and how they get to their decisions.”

Rakhmonov has followed a similarly dominant path up the UFC ladder as Chimaev since arriving in 2020. Should he emerge victorious over top-10 contender Neil Magny later this month, the Kazakh will move one sizable step closer to an exciting Octagon date with “Borz.”

Given Rakhmonov’s latest comments, their previous heated back and forth, and the never-ending comparisons between the pair, the backstory will certainly be an intriguing one by the time they come to blows, which appears to be an inevitability given their trajectories.

Do you agree with Shavkat Rakhmonov’s take on Khamzat Chimaev’s victory over Gilbert Burns?

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Aljamain Sterling Reveals He Made $400,000 Before Taxes At UFC 273, Questions Michael Chandler On Fighter Pay

Aljamain SterlingUndisputed UFC bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling has revealed that before taxes and expenses, he received a $400,000 payday for his successful title defense and unification win over Petr Yan at UFC 273 in the pair’s rematch, questioning recent thoughts from UFC lightweight, Michael Chandler on the infamous fighter pay issue. Sterling, who co-headlined the April […]

Aljamain Sterling

Undisputed UFC bantamweight champion, Aljamain Sterling has revealed that before taxes and expenses, he received a $400,000 payday for his successful title defense and unification win over Petr Yan at UFC 273 in the pair’s rematch, questioning recent thoughts from UFC lightweight, Michael Chandler on the infamous fighter pay issue.

Sterling, who co-headlined the April pay-per-view event at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida – confirmed that he received a payday in the region of $400,000 for his victory over the Dudinka native, however, likely walked away with $110,000 in pocket following taxes and expenses.

“Full disclosure, my last fight, I made $400,000,” Aljamain Sterling told MMA Fighting during a recent interview. “That’s before taxes, that’s before i paid my coaches, that’s before expenses, and I owed money in taxes from last year. Because of COVID and everything, the things I had to do for my personal side of that, I had to do with family and take care of family and pay stuff, remodeling this, remodeling that, so I owed money.”

“I probably walked way with about $110,000,” Aljamain Sterling explained. “Now I get to spend that, and I have to budget it, and I’ve got to put away money for savings, and put away stuff for my investments, so not I have to budget all this out to make sure I don’t go broke. So it sounds like, ‘You made a sh*t ton of money,’ and yes and no.”

Aljamain Sterling took umbrage with Michael Chandler’s recent comments on the issue of fighter pay

Previously, playing down the issue of fighter pay and compensation in the organization, one-time lightweight title challenger, Chandler pointed to the fact that UFC president, Dana White has had many sleepless nights in order to make sure the promotion succeeded, while fighters only had to worry about training and competing.

“Michael Chandler fought for Bellator, he made a sh*t ton of money for Bellator, he was a world champion in Bellator, (and) I think he was also a national champion at the Division I level, so he has all those things going for him,” Aljamain Sterling said. “The average fighter comes up, they’re not a wrestler, they’re not a national champion, they didn’t become a Bellator champion, they don’t have all those credentials and accolades, they don’t come from money – I’m not saying Michael Chandler comes from money, I don’t know anything about his backstory, but he doesn’t understand the situation of the other fighters.”

“Clearly, he doesn’t understand this, because he wouldn’t have said what he said if he did – the backstory of the other fighters that aren’t making the type of money that Michael Chandler is making, and that’s the difference.”

“Once he looks at it from a different perspective, I think he would change what he was saying,” Aljamain Sterling said. “But him saying Dana White had 10,000 sleepless nights, Michael Chandler, you’ve been competing since you were out of the womb pretty much. What about all your sleepless nights of training, cutting weight? What about all the other fighters training, cutting weight? You can’t say all we do is go to the gym, train, sleep and repeat. Some of us have second jobs.”

“I had a second job all the way through my career until after I beat ‘Tanquino” (Augusto Mendes), after two split decision losses,” Aljamain Sterling said. “I have a college degree. I would have been potentially making more money doing that in the beginning of my career if I had just stuck to that and I’d have been making more money than what I was making if I had just stuck to fighting.”

Burns Explains Why He Cried After Chimaev Loss

UFC welterweight contender Gilbert Burns has described the emotion that overcame him after defeat to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 273. It’s been over two weeks since Burns and Chimaev went to war inside Jacksonville’s VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The pair’s collision not only secured Fight of the Night honors at the April 9 pay-per-view but…

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UFC welterweight contender Gilbert Burns has described the emotion that overcame him after defeat to Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 273.

It’s been over two weeks since Burns and Chimaev went to war inside Jacksonville’s VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena. The pair’s collision not only secured Fight of the Night honors at the April 9 pay-per-view but will certainly be in just about every Fight of the Year conversation come the end of 2022.

After three rounds of action, “Borz” was awarded a close decision victory, which secured his ascent from #11 to #3 on the welterweight ladder. Burns, meanwhile, didn’t lose any stock in defeat and has enhanced his reputation as a tough and game fan favorite.

“Durinho” has never been one to hide his emotion, and that admirable trait was on display again following his loss to Chimaev. During an interview with MMA Underground’s John Morgan, Burns explained that part of his emotion came from how much work he’d put in ahead of his 18th walk to the Octagon.

“You know what makes me so mad? I work very hard, very hard. People have no idea. It’s not the training part for me. For me, it’s the mental aspect,” said Burns. “My team is so big. I hired a lot of people. I have my own nutritionist, I have my own psychologist, I have my own strength and conditioning (coach), I have my own physical therapist… I hired a new coach… I hired everybody.

“It’s such hard work I do to make sure I get ready… So for sure, whenever I lose, I get so mad because I know the amount of work I put in. And I cry,” admitted Burns. “I don’t care. Haters gonna hate, I cry. I put in so much work.”

And who was it that set Burns off post-fight? UFC President Dana White. Nice one Dana…

Burns: “Freakin’ Dana Had To Make Me Cry”

Dana White
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Explaining how he’s come to wear his heart on his sleeve, Burns ventured back to his jiu-jitsu days to highlight the post-fight feelings he experienced after defeat in big tournaments.

“You know the reason why I cry? I’m gonna be very honest with you. Whenever I was coming up in the jiu-jitsu (community), I did a lot of great things on the color belts… But when I became a black belt, it was super (hard) to get a win, especially in the big tournaments,” recalled Burns. “The small ones were easy, couple fights, boom, get a win. But on the big stage, I was getting so mad because I was going there, getting good, boom, semifinals, amazing fight, and I lost.

“And I was so mad because I knew it was a good fight, and people were saying, ‘Ay, don’t worry, that was a great fight.’ And I was so mad when they say that. I kept walking and people (said), ‘Don’t worry, that was a great fight,’ but I lost and I was holding on to, ‘Don’t cry,’ you know? Because I didn’t wanna cry right away… Maybe the third or fourth person came at me, ‘Bro, that was a great fight,’ and then I exploded, crying, ‘But I freakin’ lost!’”

The story Burns recalled is certainly reminiscent of the post-fight reaction to his defeat against Chimaev, which saw many praise his role in all-time classic. Nevertheless, adding a win to his record is the most important thing for Burns when he enters the cage, and he was overcome with emotion when he failed to achieve that.

“Durinho” went on to reveal that it was the words of Dana White that caused him to shed the first tear inside the Octagon.

“It gets to a point that, I hate to lose (so much) that I don’t care if it was a great fight. I just wanna win, I don’t wanna lose,” said Burns. “When the fight was over, I was feeling everyone going crazy, everyone screaming at me, and I was holding on to that feeling. And I tried to be positive and see the good things, then first person I see is Dana, ‘That was amazing fight, that was the best fight I ever seen,’ and that same mentality was coming.

“I was holding on (to not cry) every time that he tried to give me good props, a good thing, it was just making me more crazy. Then freakin’ Dana had to make me cry because he talked so much and I was so mad. When I walked out of the Octagon I was already crying, like, ‘Sh*t, I couldn’t hold it,’” concluded Burns.

Having failed to move closer to a potential second crack at dethroning welterweight king Kamaru Usman, it’s back to the drawing board for Burns. It appears the Brazilian’s next opponent could be determined by the UFC’s plans for Chimaev.

Should the promotion’s intention to place “Borz” opposite Colby Covington in its next ABC headliner come to fruition, perhaps Burns will stand toe-to-toe with rising contender Belal Muhammad later this year.

If “Chaos” were to turn down an offer to face the Chechen-born Swede, as Muhammad and Chael Sonnen believe he will, perhaps Burns will throw down with the #1-ranked contender instead.

Who would you like to see Gilbert Burns share the Octagon with next?

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Whittaker: I’m Leading The Sterling Bandwagon After UFC 273

Despite his pre-UFC 273 reservations, middleweight contender Robert Whittaker is now firmly a part of Aljamain Sterling’s fanbase following the event. Ahead of the April 9 pay-per-view, it’s safe to say that the bantamweight champion had his doubters. From the way he won the title to his lengthy layoff after it, Sterling was heavily criticized…

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Despite his pre-UFC 273 reservations, middleweight contender Robert Whittaker is now firmly a part of Aljamain Sterling’s fanbase following the event.

Ahead of the April 9 pay-per-view, it’s safe to say that the bantamweight champion had his doubters. From the way he won the title to his lengthy layoff after it, Sterling was heavily criticized and not many gave “Funk Master” a chance of successfully defending his title in his rematch with Petr Yan in Florida.

After he proved a large number of fans, pundits, and fellow fighters wrong, Sterling embarked on an ‘I told you so tour’. That venture brought him to the doorstep of Whittaker, who, along with compatriot Tai Tuivasa, had put the champ on blast for the way that he handled his disqualification victory last March.

After inviting the former middleweight king to complete an “Aljamain Sterling Apology Form” on Twitter, Whittaker responded by admitting that he had egg on his face following Sterling’s impressive performance.

Now, a few weeks beyond Sterling’s win, Whittaker has revealed that the champ’s triumph did more than just change his perspective, it secured him a seat on the “Funk Master” bandwagon.

Whittaker: Sterling Surprised Me

During a recent appearance on Submission Radio, Whittaker admitted his surprise at the way in which Sterling was able to shut down the heavily-favoured Yan inside the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.

Having witnessed the upset, the Aussie says he’s not only behind Sterling’s reign, but he’s leading the support for it.

“Let me tell ya, I’m leading the Aljamain f*cking bandwagon now. I’m driving the carriage [LAUGHS], no worries,” joked Whittaker. “He surprised me. I didn’t think he could perform like that after the first fight. Like I mentioned in the interview, I understand all his reasoning and why he did things, and I’m sure it left a bad taste in his mouth as well.

“Yeah, I thought he did really well. I thought he did really, really well. I loved his work, and yeah, I’ve changed my opinion,” admitted Whittaker. “That’s the beautiful thing about life, you can do that. And he changed my opinion.”

As well as the UFC 273 performance, Whittaker went on to praise Sterling for the way in which he responded to his doubters and handled his post-fight exchanges, including the tweets that he shared with “The Reaper.”

Whittaker suggested that the champ’s sense of humor has only further added to the change of heart he’s had on Sterling.

“To be honest, the way he handled that exchange, it was quite witty, and I like the way he did it. It just made me like him more,” concluded Whittaker.

Have you joined Robert Whittaker on the Aljamain Sterling bandwagon?

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Khamzat Chimaev Reflects On UFC 273: “I Tasted The Blood And Wanted To Finish Him (Gilbert Burns)”

Khamzat ChimaevKhamzat Chimaev reflects on abandoning the game plan during his recent win over Gilbert Burns at UFC 273. About three weeks separated from UFC 273, Chimaev, shared his thoughts on his winning efforts against Gilbert Burns. In one of the most anticipated bouts of the year, the 27-year-old fighter (who turns 28 tomorrow) took on […]

Khamzat Chimaev

Khamzat Chimaev reflects on abandoning the game plan during his recent win over Gilbert Burns at UFC 273.

About three weeks separated from UFC 273, Chimaev, shared his thoughts on his winning efforts against Gilbert Burns. In one of the most anticipated bouts of the year, the 27-year-old fighter (who turns 28 tomorrow) took on the former title challenger and at the time second-ranked contender at welterweight in the people’s main event of the night.

In an interview with Smesh Bros, Chimaev talked about his mindset during the fight. On being probed by the interviewer about abandoning his game in search of a knockout win, he stated.

“Yeah, that was it,” Chimaev said in agreement. “When I knocked him down, I tasted the blood and wanted to finish him. And I forgot about rounds and time. I couldn’t think of defense and control my emotions. So I was all over the place.”

Khamzat Chimaev compares to Khabib Nurmagomedov

There were plenty of memorable moments from the fight. A photo of Khamzat Chimaev sitting atop the cage waiting for his opponent to walk out right before the start of the action went viral. The interviewer asked the Chechen whether he had planned to sit on top of the cage before the fight.

Making a subtle reference to the legendary Khabib Nurmagomedov, Chimaev called himself the “flying hawk” as he explained his mindset of just wanting to enjoy himself in the cage. It certainly looked like he was having fun, almost like he was waiting for a bus with such a calm demeanor before the fight.

Another person who made headlines from the night was the renowned coach Andreas Michael who was in Chimaev’s corner that night. A clip of Michael howling at Chimaev between rounds grabbed the attention of many on the internet. The All-Stars Sweden head honcho Michael later revealed that he was pleading with his fighter to “stop brawling” and focus on the game plan they had practiced.

Do you feel like the hype train was derailed or does it continue stronger for Khamzat Chimaev after UFC 273?

Sandhagen: Sterling Probably Inspired A Lot Of People At UFC 273

UFC bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen has praised champion Aljamain Sterling for upsetting the odds against Petr Yan at UFC 273. Many in the MMA community would have expected the current discussion to surround the next steps for undisputed titleholder Yan. In the book that Sterling’s detractors had already written, the Russian, who held interim gold…

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UFC bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen has praised champion Aljamain Sterling for upsetting the odds against Petr Yan at UFC 273.

Many in the MMA community would have expected the current discussion to surround the next steps for undisputed titleholder Yan. In the book that Sterling’s detractors had already written, the Russian, who held interim gold heading into the April 9 pay-per-view, was certain to regain a title that they thought he never should have lost.

Instead, Sterling did exactly what he said he would do: prove his doubters wrong. In his first defense, “Funk Master” legitimized his bantamweight reign with victory on the scorecards following five rounds of action.

Had things gone differently at UFC 267 six months prior, Sterling could have been standing toe-to-toe with the #4-ranked Sandhagen in Jacksonville. In a 2021 FOTY contender, “The Sandman” fell short of interim status in his Abu Dhabi-held clash with “No Mercy.”

Instead of securing his own title challenge, the Colorado native watched on as Yan attempted to dethrone Sterling, who Sandhagen also faced and lost to in 2020. With two of his former opponents colliding, it was the underdog whom the 29-year-old had his eye on.

Sandhagen: Sterling Pulled A Bunny Out Of His Hat

During a recent interview with LowKick MMA, Sandhagen gave his thoughts on his division’s most recent championship bout.

After suggesting that he agreed with the judges’ decision, unlike UFC President Dana White, “The Sandman” admitted that he was happy to see Sterling upset the odds against the heavily-favored Yan. By doing so, he believes the champ inspired a lot of people.

“I wasn’t too surprised by the decision. I think Aljo probably won the first round… I thought it was a pretty entertaining fight. I’m kinda happy for Aljamain in a way, that he was able to be that huge of an underdog and then still be able to pull it off,” said Sandhagen. “The guy pulled a bunny out of his hat. Good for him, man. I think that he probably inspired a lot of people out there and I’m happy about that.”

While Sterling turns his attention to his next challenger, expected to be another of Sandhagen’s former opponents in TJ Dillashaw, “The Sandman” will be looking ahead to his own return to the Octagon, which he expects to come at some point in the summer.

While hesitant to call out a specific opponent, the top-five contender did name Dominick Cruz and José Aldo as potential next foes. Should he defeat either of the former champions, Sandhagen would move a sizable step closer to a second Octagon meeting with “Funk Master.”

Aljamain Sterling & Cory Sandhagen
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – JUNE 05: In this handout image provided by UFC, (L-R) Opponents Aljamain Sterling and Cory Sandhagen face off during the UFC 250 weigh-in at UFC APEX on June 05, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Do you agree with Cory Sandhagen? Do you think Aljamain Sterling’s UFC 273 victory will have inspired a lot of people?

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