"I knew it's going to be very difficult fight for him" - Arman Tsarukyan not disappointed by Khamzat Chimaev's performance against Gilbert Burns

UFC lightweight Arman Tsarukyan has indicated that he wasn’t surprised by how the Khamzat Chimaev vs. Gilbert Burns fight played out. Freestyle wrestling savant Chimaev engaged in a thrilling slugfest with multi-time BJJ world champion Burns at UFC 273 on April 9. The closely-contested fight witnessed Chimaev beat Burns via unanimous decision.

While the undefeated Chimaev continued his winning ways, Burns became the first fighter to truly challenge ‘Borz’ and make him look vulnerable inside the octagon. Speaking to The Schmo aka Dave Schmulenson and Helen Yee on The Schmozone podcast, Arman Tsarukyan suggested that he wasn't disappointed by Chimaev's performance against Burns. Tsarukyan stated:

“Last fight was bad for him [Chimaev]. And I knew he won. I knew that he win this fight. But anyway, like, Gilbert Burns, he’s tough too. It was good fight.”

When asked whether anything surprised him about Chimaev’s performance against Burns, Tsarukyan said:

“No, no. I knew it’s going to be very difficult fight for him because Gilbert Burns, he’s like, tough opponent. But I said my friends; they wanted to do bet. And they asked me like, ‘What do you think? Who’s gonna win?’ I said like, ’60 and 40 percent; 60 percent Khamzat, 40 percent Gilbert.’”

Presently, Arman Tsarukyan holds the No.11 spot in the official UFC lightweight rankings. The 25-year-old is regarded as one of the top lightweight prospects in the UFC today. The Armenian-Russian fighter, who’s currently on an impressive five-fight win streak, has vowed to capture the UFC lightweight title.

Meanwhile, the No.3-ranked UFC welterweight Khamzat Chimaev is likely to fight the No.1-ranked Colby Covington next.

Watch Arman Tsarukyan’s conversation with Dave Schmulenson and Helen Yee in the video below:

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Joe Lauzon on the significance of Khamzat Chimaev’s performance against Gilbert Burns

Speaking to James Lynch for Sportskeeda MMA, veteran MMA fighter Joe Lauzon recently chimed in on Khamzat Chimaev’s UFC 273 win over Gilbert Burns. Lauzon revealed that Chimaev’s performance in the back-and-forth fight impressed him even more than the Russian fighter’s dominant wins in his previous fights.

Additionally, he highlighted that the fight proved that Chimaev’s capable of overcoming adversity. Joe Lauzon said:

"He's a monster, I'm more impressed now than I was before. You know, obviously it's great, he's been punched three times in four fights or whatever it was. But everyone kept saying, 'Oh when he gets in deep waters, he's gonna have trouble.'” Noting that he didn’t know how Chimaev would react after getting taken into deep waters, Lauzon added, “You know, Gilbert Burns cracked him a couple of times and he recovered, no problem."