MANILA, Philippines – If you talk to Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Gilbert Burns, you get the sense that time is a precious commodity.
“I am on a mission to become a champion,” bared the Brazilian of his ambitions a few days ahead of UFC 288, which will be shown live in the Philippines at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 7, on the Premier Sports Channel on Skycable, and Cignal and TapGo TV.
Burns (22-5) will be taking on fellow welterweight Belal Muhammad (22-3) at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, in a match with title shot implications.
“I am 36 years old and am not getting any younger,” Burns expounded. “I feel young in a sense as I am training better, my regimen in terms of training, physical therapy 24/7 and strength conditioning and psychology. But I do not have 10 years of fighting. I have to make the most of these next few years to become the champion and to become the best in the world.”
After Burns easily dispatched Jorge Masvidal in UFC 287 last March, he issued an ultimatum to the UFC.
“Whenever they asked… any time the UFC gave me a call asking for opponents, I said yes. And now, I’m demanding. I’m going out there, I’m gonna do my training camp (for) five rounds. I’ll go to London, I’ll be the backup, and I’m the next in line to fight for the title. Otherwise, let me go, my guy. Let me do my thing. These guys are making a million dollars a year in other organizations. Step up. That’s it."
The UFC acquiesced, and now he’s fighting Muhammad, who is on a five-match win streak. And Burns knows he has to make good on this opportunity and time.
“It’s a big fight. It is a special fight. I have a tough opponent in front of me. It’s going to be a war. He is hungry just like me. The sad thing is only one of us is going to accomplish that and it’s going to be me.”
During UFC 283 that was held this past January in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he bounced back from a loss to Khamzat Chimaev by beating Neil Magny in the space of one round, Burns bumped into the father of a childhood friend.
“I had this best friend when I was young. We were tight for about four years,” he related. “One year, I didn’t do so well in school so I had to repeat. My father was very angry and he made me study and study at home. Because of that, my best friend went the wrong way and he went in and out of jail.”
“When I went home to Brazil (Burns is now based in the United States), I saw the father of that former best friend of mine, and he was crying. My former friend passed away. I wondered about that lost time and how we need to make the most out of opportunities.”
“I am not supposed to be here (today in the UFC with my success in mixed martial arts). I was very poor and came from a bad neighborhood. But because of me going into sports and my parents and God, I found my way here to where I am today. So I think of my former best friend and about how we need to make the most of the time we are given.”
With current champion Leon Edwards fighting this October, any chance of a title shot could come early next year. Burns might fight once more, twice even. But he knows that time is ticking away.
Burns’ previous title shot was against former champion Kamaru Usman, but the Brazilian lost via third-round knockout in February 2021. Since then, he has gone 3-1. He knows that he cannot call out the UFC once more.
“All I can do is think of the man in front of me and how I need to get past him.”
After all, Gilbert Burns is a man on a mission.