UFC Star Gilbert Burns Reacts to Conor McGregor

UFC welterweight star Gilbert Burns defeated Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in the co-main event of UFC 264 earlier this month, so he essentially had a front-row seat to everything that happened that night after Dustin Poirier defeated Conor McGregor. Burns revealed to Heavy his thoughts and feelings about McGregor’s latest loss, his behavior after the fight, and all the crazy things McGregor has said and done since.

“It’s a little crazy to see,” Burns said. “I was very happy for Dustin. I think his first round was amazing, and I think it was just going to keep getting better through the rounds. I don’t think Conor, even with no injury, I don’t think he would have been able to recover. He got beatdown in the first, he would have got beatdown in the second, maybe he would make it through the third, but that would be it.”

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‘Crazy to See That Injury’

McGregor’s tibia snapped at the end of the first round, but Burns believes Poirier was on his way to winning the fight anyway.

Besides, the biggest elephant in the room is that Poirier should probably be given credit for doing whatever broke McGregor’s lower leg in the first place.

But what happened next was the wildest part of the whole night. Because laying there on the floor of the UFC’s Octagon was where McGregor hurled death threats at Poirier and his wife, Jolie.

“Crazy to see that injury, and then that was a lot of emotions for Conor. He went crazy. Yeah, that was the sad part about it. But I was very happy for Dustin Poirier,” Burns said.

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Burns Won’t Judge McGregor

Burns said he didn’t like to see the way McGregor acted after the loss, but that he wasn’t going to jump on the bandwagon of judgment about the whole thing either.

“I don’t like it,” Burns said. “Like I said, for me, it’s never personal. It’s always a business. It’s a competition. I go out there and try to give my best. But sometimes, you lose, and then people react the way they react.”

Burns said he’s never been under the same kind of pressure as McGregor, and he’s also never lived life in the shoes of the most famous UFC superstar in history either.

“It’s easy now to judge Conor McGregor but I haven’t been through all that, the pressure that he carries with him when he fights, the amount of money…a lot of important people were there to watch that fight,” Burns said.

Burns recognizes how emotions can cause huge outbursts. He doesn’t like the things McGregor said and did at UFC 264, but he doesn’t want to judge McGregor as a human being based on that isolated incident.

“A lot of emotions. For sure, I don’t agree, but I can see getting very big and having a lot of emotions…I don’t agree with that, but it’s hard to be the judge of the guy, too. I’m not in his shoes,” Burns said.

Burns Wants Edwards or Masvidal Next

Burns expects to face either Leon Edwards or Jorge Masvidal next. After that, he hopes to get another shot at UFC gold. Burns is currently ranked No. 2 in the welterweight division after Colby Covington.

Kamaru Usman is the UFC welterweight champion. Usman defeated Burns by third-round stoppage in a back-and-forth fight at UFC 258 in February.

Burns is sponsored by Kill Cliff, a product billed as the world’s first and best clean energy drink.

Burns was doing media rounds as a member of Kill Cliff’s Fight Club, an elite group of sponsored MMA stars that includes Burns, UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, ex-UFC star and Bellator heavyweight champion Ryan Bader, ex-UFC champ Robbie Lawler, UFC legend Joseph Benavidez, and ONE Championship’s Aung La Nsang.

“I love Kill Cliff,” Burns said. “I’m so excited to be working with these guys, and they’ve been awesome to me.”

Twitter: @Kelsey_McCarson

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