Khamzat Chimaev defeated second-placed Gilbert Burns in yesterday's UFC 273 match.
This was the first time Chimayev had faced a top ten opponent in the class and the toughest match of his career, and although he still maintained an all-out victory, Chimayev was also knocked out and nearly finished, breaking his 100% finishing percentage. UFC 273 pre-race president Dana Bai vowed: "If Chimayev wins this weekend, I would love to arrange for Chimayev to play Against Covington. ”
When Chimayev won, Bai Dana praised him even more:
"It's one of the best games I've ever seen, it's crazy on the scene, everyone cheers and shouts, think about it, you see a guy who doesn't know when it's coming out of nowhere, nobody knows who he is, he played a couple of games and then beat the second-place guy, it's not a joke, man, especially at that level of his killer, tonight was a huge test for him, he passed the test."
In his post-match press conference, Chimayev said of the match against Covington:
"I don't care who the opponent is, I'll fight everyone, of course, if Covington doesn't call the police and Bai Dana doesn't go to jail, I'll be happy to take this game and punch him in the face, of course I'll KO him."
"Next I'll go back to Sweden for a recovery break and then train harder, I have more motivation now and I want to kill everybody," Chimayev added. Covington has challenged champion Usman twice, both of which have failed but also brought Usman a severe test, and the two played very close in the first match in December 2019, and finally Usman won in the fifth leg TKO.
In the second game in November 2021, Covington's counterattack posed a great threat to Usman after a bad start, and finally lost points. UFC 272 He also beat Masvedal in the Battle of Enmity and gain momentum.
Although Chimayev won the victory and was also appreciated by Bai Dana, this game was a big gap compared to his previous strong performances.
And this game actually has a very strong reference for Covington and Usman, because Burns found Chimayev's loopholes and weaknesses, which are very worth studying and exploiting for the two.