Chimaev

Chimaev had a more difficult time than he did in his first four UFC wins, but he proved he can beat an elite foe.

Will anyone ever steal the show from the 27-year-old Chechnya-born Swede? If he does end up in the cage with Covington, as the UFC would like, Chimaev (11-0) would surely be a crowd favorite, but what would the oddsmakers say? Chimaev clearly had proved to them that he belongs in the top tier. Saturday was a big night for fighters proving their worthiness of the exalted place they already hold in the sport. All champions in all divisions are called upon to prove themselves every time -- but for Sterling the demand was more so. He dropped Burns with a crisp jab, and from top position on the canvas he dropped punches and elbows, one of which opened a cut on the Brazilian's head. He even looked ahead to Chimaev's next one, saying that if the Chechnya-born Swede defeated Burns, the UFC would try to book him against Covington on a rare network TV show. When UFC president Dana White went on SiriusXM radio to promote the pay-per-view, he spoke just a little about Alexander Volkanovski's main event featherweight title defense against Chan Sung Jung. He said not a word about the co-main bantamweight title bout between champ Aljamain Sterling and former champ Petr Yan. Instead, White spent much of his time talking about Chimaev, "somebody that people are very excited about." And despite Burns' lofty credentials and Chimaev's relative inexperience at a high level, many had no hesitation in predicting a Chimaev win. Standing across the cage from Chimaev on Saturday was a fighter on a whole different level. This time he was in a competitive fight. Burns had been bloodied and beaten down in a brutal opening round, but he had survived. A 124-2 edge in total strikes in his UFC debut.