Israel Adesanya Picks Surprising Upset for UFC 273

Getty Israel Adesanya of Nigeria interacts with media during the UFC 259 press conference at UFC APEX on March 04, 2021 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Middleweight champion Israel Adesanya recently gave his prediction for the hotly anticipated UFC 273 welterweight bout between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev.

During the event’s featured bout, Burns and Chimaev will go to war in front of a packed house at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The stakes are high for both combatants as the victor will place themselves one step closer to a shot at UFC gold.

Burns is currently ranked No. 2 in the division and “Borz” is rated No. 11, as per the official UFC rankings. And although there is such a large disparity in their rankings, Chimaev is currently a heavy favorite to win the contest. At the time of this writing, Borz is a -560 favorite and “Durinho” is sitting as a +410 underdog, according to BetOnline.

But one person who thinks Burns can silence the doubters is Adesanya. During a recent YouTube video on his channel, “The Last Stylebender” predicted that the Brazilian can “get it done” against Chimaev.

“I know Burns,” Adesanya said via Sportskeeda.com. “He don’t play about it. He’s real. He’s really about this life. I’m glad that he’s up at welterweight now because he’s a lot more better at this weight class… Burns is good but he gets hit. Everyone gets hit. And he’s got power on his punches. You know what, I’ll be rooting for Burns. I think he can get it done.”

Michael Bisping Is Choosing Chimaev Over Burns

The former champion of the UFC’s middleweight division, Michael Bisping, is going with Chimaev, however. Giving his take on the clash via his YouTube channel, Bisping said as per MMA Fighting:

“This is a tough one, but I’m going to lean towards Khamzat. You can say that I’ve been sold the hype. What he did to Li Jingliang, it just blew my mind. That was so impressive. Jingliang ain’t no slouch, he’s a tough guy with good skills and lots of experience, and Khamzat picked him up, and he looked like he could’ve done whatever he wanted with him. We know he was talking to Dana White, talking about becoming a champion, talking about becoming a champion at 185 [also].

“There’s a reason why he’s so confident. He’s not stupid. This isn’t him being false arrogant, getting carried away with a little success. Then he knocked out Gerald Meerschaert, there’s a reason for all of this. It is going to be interesting because I do want to see the wrestling of Khamzat go up against the jiu-jitsu of Gilbert Burns. That is going to be an interesting scenario.”

Bisping Admits Chimaev Needs to Be Very Cautious of Burns’ Jiu-Jitsu

Bisping continued with his thoughts on the matchup, saying Chimaev should be constantly aware of Durinho’s grappling prowess. But even so, he isn’t entirely sure that Borz will respect Burns’ ground game.

“He needs to make sure his jiu-jitsu defense is on point because if it’s not, Gilbert Burns will catch him,” Bisping said. “[Burns is] world class in all aspects of mixed martial arts, but it’s the ground, that is the dangerous one. But is Khamzat going to pick him up and throw him on the ground and just say, ‘F*** you, I don’t care, this is how I’m going to fight’?

“But my pick is Khamzat Chimaev. I think he gets it done again, I just do. I think it’s going to be unbelievable because if he does win, whoever wins between Usman and Leon Edwards, he should be next.”