Soon to be welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns has shared his predictions for Masvidal vs. Covington and Chimaev vs. Edwards.
Burns (19-3 MMA) is set to challenge Kamaru Usman for the UFC’s coveted welterweight championship in two weeks at UFC 258. ‘Durinho’ will enter the highly anticipated title bout on a six-fight winning streak. During that impressive stretch the Brazilian has scored victories over Oliver Aubin-Mercier, Mike Davis, Alexey Kunchenko, Gunnar Nelson, Demian Maia and most recently Tyron Woodley.
Ahead of his matchup with ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’, Gilbert Burns sat down with MMAFighting where he shared his predictions for Masvidal vs. Covington and Chimaev vs. Edwards.
“I lean a lot to the side of Colby Covington. I think Kamaru just showed how you can beat Masvidal, and I think Colby Covington is very smart and he’s just going to out wrestle Masvidal and do maybe better or the same as Kamaru did.” Gilbert Burns said. “I still want to see that fight but I don’t see that it’s going to be a very entertaining fight. I think it’s going to be a very kind of boring fight. A lot of control, a lot of wrestling, I think that’s how the fight’s going to go but I still want to see that one. But I’ve got Colby Covington on this one.”
Although Colby Covington vs. Jorge Masvidal has not been officially announced by the promotion, UFC President Dana White has made it clear that is the fight he plans on booking next.
As for March’s Khamzat Chimaev vs. Leon Edwards contest, Gilbert Burns shared the following prediction.
“I do think Khamzat Chimaev will beat Leon Edwards. I think he can do it. I think the wrestling will be the difference and he will do it.” Burns said. “I’ve been impressed. Nothing crazy, nothing like ‘oh he fought these guys!’ Nothing super impressive with his opponents but he’s been doing a great job. The matchup is bad for [Leon Edwards] there. I think [Chimaev] is very strong and can out wrestle him. I don’t think he’ll destroy him but I think he’ll out wrestle him and make the fight very dirty. And I think he can do it.”
