UFC 273: Gilbert Burns On How Kamaru Usman Helped Him Ahead Of Khamzat Chimaev Fight

Gilbert Burns will be coming in well-prepared for his welterweight clash with Khamzat Chimaev.

The No. 2 welterweight contender in the world is set for a huge fight this weekend as he takes on UFC breakout star Chimaev at UFC 273. Ahead of the fight, Burns wants to ensure that Chimaev’s size advantage will not be an issue so he brought in bigger guys during his training camp.

Atop that, Burns revealed that he’s also taking a few pointers from the UFC’s pound-for-pound king, Kamaru Usman. According to Burns, Usman doesn’t really get involved when it comes to the technical aspect of his training but was more helpful in terms of the mental aspect.

“Kamaru Usman came a couple of days to help out,” Burns told TMZ Sports. “He was helping me a couple of times, not training with me, but kinda coaching, kind of be on the side giving me a lot of advice, a lot of things on let’s say my last three or four sparrings he was there. [He has] very high IQ and very good advice. It was good to have him around.”

Burns had his shot at Usman at UFC 258. However, he failed to get the job done and got TKO’d by the champion instead.

Despite having Usman on his side ahead of UFC 273, Burns confessed that he is still eyeing another crack at the welterweight king. However, the Brazilian also emphasized that until then, he and “The Nigerian Nightmare” could work together at anything because there’s no animosity between them.

“The guy beat me. Congratulations!” Burns said of Usman. “I don’t have that personal thing. For sure, I want to be a champion, but I’m not after Kamaru, I’m after the title. I want to become the best. I don’t have no beef, nothing personal, no grudge, nothing against Kamaru.”

Burns has been a top-five welterweight for quite some time now but is looking for a big win to position him in title contention once again. Chimaev, on the other hand, is just about to break into the top 10 should he manage to get past “Durinho.”

For Burns, it’s a “big risk” to fight a lower-ranked fighter like Chimaev, but he knows he needs to beat anybody in front of him to become the best in the division.

“Whoever the UFC puts in front of me, I’ll fight,” the 35-year-old told MMA Junkie in another interview. “I wanted to fight with Colby [Covington], but he had a fight, so Khamzat was the only one that wanted to fight. I know he’s a big risk and he’s No. 11 and very tough, but if I want to be champion, I need to fight everyone.”