Things have been crazy since Gilbert Burns was informed that he had tested positive for COVID-19. However he has been thinking about it, and thinks that he knows how he got the virus.
As fighters try to travel to Fight Island, they are subjected to a litany of tests to make sure the fighters are kept as safe as possible. Unfortunately Burns would be notified that he had failed one such test, and would be pulled from his title fight with Kamaru Usman. However, as he told ESPN, he knew something was wrong when he went to bed Thursday night, with his head hurting, and expected bad news when he woke up.
“The next day I wake up with Hunter Campbell calling from the UFC,” Burns said. “He was the one that gave me the news, ‘Hey, you tested positive. So we’re going to run another test…after the second results we’ll go from there.’ Then I was waiting, and Khabib’s dad passed away, so we were caught up in the situation while we waited for results.
“Then I called Ali,” Gilbert Burns continued. “And it was hard to get in touch with him because he was dealing with everything with Khabib’s dad. And when I finally got ahold of him, he was like, ‘Bro, a lot of people called me. What’s going on?’ And I said, ‘Bro, I tested positive. We’re waiting for the second test.’
“Hours later the second test came and I had confirmation that I tested positive,” Burns explained. “And at the same time coach Greg Jones gets his results and test positive, too. So me, Vagner Rocha and coach Greg Jones tested positive. My brother, who was in the middle of us (on the plane), tested negative.”
So How Did Gilbert Burns Catch The Virus?
Obviously Gilbert Burns could not trace the source of his exposure to a single person, given the amount of travel he has done. That being said, he has a guess as to what he feels caused him to contract the virus. He thinks that it was due to the fact that people are not wearing masks in Florida.
“The thing is that Florida opened up, that was the thing,” Burns said. “Florida is open, people are not wearing masks, people are everywhere walking around. I think that’s how we got it. I think the first person that got it was Kenny, a Brazilian coach. After that we got Aung La Nsang – ONE championship champion. After her, a couple of heavyweights, and next it was me. And another guy just texted me; he’s out of an LFA fight because he tested positive, too.
“I just think it’s a Florida thing,” Burns went on. “We’re not safe anymore. We have to stay home. I believe the training is going to close, we’ll have to close the gym a second time, wait, and get everyone tested, and then open again. I think it’s not a gym thing, I think it’s a Florida thing, because here it’s all over. The numbers are getting up, and we end up getting caught.”
It is super unfortunate that Gilbert Burns and his team have been infected by this. Hopefully he can heal up, continue to feel better, and get back to action soon.
