{"id":652403,"date":"2026-05-06T22:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/652403\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T22:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T22:02:09","slug":"khamzat-chimaev-shares-cold-blooded-reaction-to-former-rival-gilbert-burns-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/652403\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamzat Chimaev shares cold-blooded reaction to former rival Gilbert Burns&#8217; retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev didn\u2019t exactly strike a sentimental tone in his reaction to Gilbert Burns\u2019 retirement.<\/p>\n<p>Khamzat Chimaev is days away from his first UFC middleweight title defense, and he has a former rival on his mind.<\/p>\n<p>Chimaev and former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland headline a stacked card at UFC 328 this Saturday in Newark. It\u2019ll mark the culmination of months of bad blood between Chimaev and Strickland, who used to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/sean-strickland-slams-rat-khamzat-chimaev-over-leaked-sparring-footage-youre-just-a-weak-man\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">train together at Xtreme Couture<\/a> before brutally falling out with one another.<\/p>\n<p>Before Chimaev made the full-time move to the middleweight division, he was viewed by many as a potential future UFC welterweight champion. He proved this prediction feasible after wins over Li Jingliang, Kevin Holland, and former title challenger Gilbert Burns.<\/p>\n<p>Chimaev and Burns clashed in an instant classic at UFC 273, with Chimaev earning a narrow decision win. Years after their fight, Burns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/mike-malott\/whats-next-for-mike-malott-and-gilbert-burns-after-ufc-winnipeg\/#:~:text=Gilbert%20Burns%20suffered%20his%20fifth,on%20his%20solid%20UFC%20career.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">announced his retirement earlier this year<\/a> following a loss to Mike Malott at UFC Winnipeg.<\/p>\n<p>While Chimaev and Burns are cordial, the UFC middleweight champ had an interesting reaction to his former rival\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n<p>Khamzat Chimaev: Gilbert Burns \u2018never the same\u2019 after we fought<\/p>\n<p>In a recent interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/aaronbronsteter\/status\/2051852101450371451?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">SportsNet\u2019s Aaron Bronsteter<\/a>, Chimaev was asked his thoughts on Burns hanging up the gloves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI told him before the fight, that he\u2019s never going to be the same anymore, and he never has been,\u201d Chimaev said.<\/p>\n<p>After losing to Chimaev at UFC 273, Burns won back-to-back fights over Jorge Masvidal and Neil Magny before going on a five-fight losing streak. He suffered losses to former champions Jack Della Maddalena and Belal Muhammad during his recent skid.<\/p>\n<p>Despite never holding a UFC title, Burns makes an intriguing case for a potential spot in the UFC Hall of Fame in the future. He holds wins over the likes of Tyron Woodley, Masvidal, Demian Maia, and Gunnar Nelson in his career.<\/p>\n<p>What is your prediction for Khamzat Chimaev vs. Sean Strickland at UFC 328? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC middleweight champion Khamzat Chimaev didn\u2019t exactly strike a sentimental tone in his reaction to Gilbert Burns\u2019 retirement.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,19450,5899,638,82,640,242077],"class_list":["post-652403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-gilbert-burns","tag-khamzat-chimaev","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc","tag-ufc-273"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}