Highly ranked UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns is itching to return to the Octagon for a “big fight,” and he’s eyeing Jorge Masvidal.
“Durinho” last fought in an epic clash with Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 273 in April. It was an all-out war that left both men battered and bruised. And as history has it, Chimaev was granted the win by the judges via unanimous decision.
Fast forward two months and Burns is now doing the media rounds and calling for a fight with Masvidal. He recently spoke with MMA Underground’s John Morgan about the potential clash, saying that although he respects “Gamebred,” he’s ready to “beat the s*** out of him.”
“I want a big fight,” Burns said via BJPenn.com. “I want to fight Jorge Masvidal, I think that’s the fight that they gonna make it. Like I said, I have tremendous respect for Jorge, guy’s got over 50 fights, crazy knockouts, fought in the streets. That’s the fight I want, I still believe we’re going to put on a show and I can beat the s*** out of him. Like I said, I got a lot of respect for him, but I still believe I’m going to beat him up. I just believe we’re going to put on a show.”
Burns & Masvidal Interacted on Twitter About a Possible Fight
Masvidal and Burns recently interacted on Twitter about a potential fight. On May 4, Burns shared a side-by-side photo of himself and Gamebred, along with several eye emojis, indicating he wanted to scrap.
Durinho’s call-out caught Masvidal’s interest, who replied that same day, tweeting: “Sounds good to me. Let’s see.”
Burns told Morgan that the UFC is also interested in scheduling the fight, and he hopes they meet inside the cage later in 2022.
“I know [Masvidal] wants it, I saw him talking, he talked about the fight, he wants the fight,” Burns continued. “I know the UFC has interest in making that fight. I’m pretty confident the fight is going to happen. I don’t know when, I believe at the end of the year. September, October, November, I’ll put it in that timeframe”.
Burns Only Wants to Compete in 5-Round Fights Now
In a recent interview with ESPN, Burns said that he wants to amend his UFC contract so all of his proceeding bouts are five-round affairs instead of three.
“I just want five rounds, even if it is the co-main or the one before, you gotta do five rounds,” Burns said via MMA News. “I’m not doing three rounds no more, brother. Nobody is calling me out, but if you call me out be ready to do five rounds because I’m just going to make that thing in my contract. So next fight they’re gonna give me a new contract and then they say, just for him, he is only doing five rounds.”
Burns’ war with Chimaev was an all-time classic, however it was only scheduled for three rounds. Burns believes that if the fight had been scheduled for five frames, he would have had his hand raised in the middle of the Octagon as opposed to Chimaev.
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UFC Headliner Wants to Return & ‘Beat the S***’ Out of Jorge Masvidal