Khamzat Chimaev's coach has revealed he was "upset" with the rising star after he deviated away from the game plan in a bid to stop Gilbert Burns.
The Chechen star recorded a victory over Burns in a thrilling clash at UFC 273 where he was forced to recover from being dropped twice to outpoint his rival. Chimaev was very aggressive during the showdown and refused to shy away from toe-to-toe action with the Brazilian.
But Michael admitted that the plan was to outbox Burns and pointed out his charge had not yet gone beyond the second round prior to his UFC 273 victory. “The plan was to just box him,” Andreas Michael said on The MMA Hour . “Keep the jab going because that’s the way to handle that situation. He did absolutely everything we didn’t work on and he just wanted to show the people, ‘Listen, I’m here, I’m gonna walk through this guy.’ But there’s a reason these guys are there.
"The No. 2, No. 1, champions, they’re there because they’re f****** tough. They’re some tough dudes, respect to them. So if you understand that and that comes with experience, if you understand that then you have the patience to handle that situation and that will make you maybe finish him in one or two rounds.
"Remember, Khamzat has nearly never gone past the first round. I got very upset and I just told him, ‘Listen. We’ve been working for this for, like, 10 weeks. Stop jeopardising this because you want to show everyone you’re the man. Understand?
"You are the man, but keep it simple. Keep your jab going. Keep it to what we’ve been working on. And at the end of the day we say, nobody’s going to love — well, I’m not saying nobody — but people love a winner. So just win the f****** fight."
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Chimaev has now risen to third in the welterweight rankings above rival Burns after his victory, and could be looking to push his way towards a title shot in the near future. UFC president Dana White announced Chimaev's likely opponent will be No.1 ranked star Colby Covington who has been told too beat lower-ranked contenders to earn a trilogy with champion Kamaru Usman.
Despite recording a hard-earned victory over an opponent ranked nine places above him, Chimaev admitted he felt sorry for his training staff. He said on his YouTube channel: “I feel sorry for my coaches, they work hard with me. I made many mistakes, [I'll go] back and watch my fight, like I always do. I will work hard, more energy.
"I need to be (better) everywhere. Black belt in striking, ground-and-pound, wrestling, grappling, everything. I will fix everything now. One way I’m happy and one way I’m mad. I’m mad because I couldn’t finish the guy."
