Gilbert Burns correctly predicted Khamzat Chimaev would struggle at UFC 328

Gilbert Burns believes Khamzat Chimaev's weight cut played a big part in his struggles at UFC 328. | Getty/UFC

Gilbert Burns had a pretty good idea of how the UFC 328 main event would play out.

Widely regarded as Khamzat Chimaev’s first difficult test in the Octagon in their UFC 273 bout, Burns released a video on YouTube last week breaking down the middleweight title bout between “Borz” and Sean Strickland. Burns predicted that Chimaev would have a difficult weight cut and also revealed that Strickland had impressed some Brazilian jiu-jitsu aces with his high skill level on the ground.

"He trained with some aces of UFC BJJ like Vagner Rocha and his son Aquile, that couldn't submit him, and I don’t believe Chimaev will,” Burns said in the video. "When I saw a video from Arman Tsarukyan saying that [Chimaev] lost 20 kilograms [44 pounds] I knew [the weight cut] would be hard.”  

After Strickland upset Chimaev to recapture the middleweight belt, Burns released another video breaking down the happenings in the UFC 328 headliner.

"Chimaev had a heart attack in the second round,” Burns said. “Certainly it was due to the weight cut. He strangely stepped on the scale for three seconds. When he stepped, it´s clear that the scale raises in an abnormal way… Definitely his weight cut was terrible, and the biggest proof of that was one of the best wrestlers of the UFC pulling guard in the first minute of the second round.”

Costa vs. Chimaev

After UFC 328, Dana White revealed that Chimaev told him that he plans to move to light heavyweight. With that in mind, Burns declared that Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa is the fight to make.