ABU DHABI – Gilbert Burns has experience hitting the mats with both Dricus Du Plessis and Khamzat Chimaev.
Middleweight champion Du Plessis (23-2 MMA, 9-0 UFC) defends his title against Chimaev (14-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) in the UFC 319 headliner on Aug. 16 from United Center in Chicago (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Burns gave Chimaev arguably his toughest test to date when he pushed him to the brink in an all-out war at UFC 273. The former title challenger has also trained with Du Plessis before, so was able to give insight on their championship fight.
“It’s a very tough fight,” Burns told MMA Junkie. “Dricus is a monster. I trained a lot with Dricus when he was at Hard Knocks, unbelievably strong for that division, very big too, crazy gas tank. He looks tired, you look at him, ‘Oh, he’s getting tired,’ but he’s not. Hits very hard, does both stances, grappling defense is get a lot better. I think right now he’s going to focus on that to not get submitted.
“And guess what? If Chimaev doesn’t finish him in the first, or give him one more round, the second round, I don’t think he can. I think it’s going to be a long night, and Dricus can keep coming, keep coming. He gets stronger as the rounds are going. The guy doesn’t quit, he doesn’t break so, I got to go with Dricus on that one.”
Although Chimaev has opted for a different look this camp by working with Sam Calavitta for his strength and conditioning, Burns doesn’t see it making a difference.
“He just got in the U.S. three, four weeks ago, I don’t think it’s going to be enough,” Burns said. “Maybe even pushing too hard right now, it might be breaking him. When I saw that I said maybe, but when I saw the timing, I don’t think so. I think Dricus is winning that one.”
