Chimaev, 32, is a three-time Swedish national freestyle wrestling champion and a former medalist in the Russian junior national championships. As for Burns, who turned 40 back in July, his wrestling has been limited to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) and submission grappling tournaments, putting him at a marked disadvantage for this Friday night’s rematch.
“For sure he’s a better wrestler, you can say that,” Burns told MMA Junkie. “He’s competed many more times than me. He’s a bigger guy, but the heart and the cardio, I think I can be in front of him. That’s my goal: to frustrate him, get my good entrances, get him freaking tired. That’s my goal. Get him freaking tired, look at him, and be like, ‘I know what you’re feeling. Let’s go.’ The way I look back at our fight, and the Strickland fight, he hates to get tired. That’s what I think. My goal is to try to put him there and see how he feels. He’s very strong, very long. I know there are a couple of things [his past opponents] did wrong that I’m not going to do.”
