Khamzat Chimaev excited to rematch one of his toughest UFC opponents in RAF Wrestling

Khamzat Chimaev has only officially lost once under the UFC banner, but many fans think he should have one more on his record.

Gilbert Burns gave him three hard rounds of action when the pair met back in April of 2022 at UFC 273. The Brazilian narrowly lost out on the night, but was one of very few fighters to show that ‘Borz’ is – in fact – human.

Four years on, the pair have agreed to rematch on the RAF Wrestling mats on September 18 in Miami. It serves as co-headliner to a star-studded show that also features a grudge match between Colby Covington and Belal Muhammad for the middleweight crossover title.

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Khamzat Chimaev opens up on Gilbert Burns rematch

Since signing with RAF Wrestling, Khamzat Chimaev has not wasted almost any time getting on the mats. He took on Dillon Danis just a few weeks after losing his UFC title to Sean Strickland, and on Saturday night was back in action against Tyron Woodley.

As quickly as the promotion are lining him up for matches, he is knocking down opponents. At the time, his Tech Fall win over Danis broke records as the quickest in RAF history, while he managed to get Woodley out within 94 seconds this time around.

Now, he takes on the first man to take him the distance in the UFC in Burns, and is excited to see how his skills have developed since. Speaking with Red Corner MMA, Chimaev was asked if Woodley was a ‘warm-up for Burns’.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Every fight, every bout is different. Different opponents, different athletes. Burns is a good wrestler and a good jiu-jitsu athlete. We fought a couple of years ago and he defended pretty well. We’ll see how he does now.”