Jorge Masvidal did not take kindly to Gilbert Burns’ accusations that he ‘greased up’ for their UFC 287 co-main event.
Burns walked away with a decisive unanimous decision victory over Masvidal, sending the two-time UFC title challenger into retirement on a four-fight losing streak. Unfortunately, Burns’ win inside the Octagon was quickly overshadowed by his comments outside of it. During the UFC 287 post-fight press conference, Burns accused ‘Gamebred’ of ‘greasing’ to offset the grapple-heavy attack of ‘Durinho.’
Addressing the accusations on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, Jorge Masvidal vehemently denied the claim while taking a solid dig at his opponent in the process.
“I’ve never greased. I’ve never been caught for cheating,” Masvidal said in response to Burns’ accusations. “Maybe I’m the sweatiest motherf*cker he knows, but I’ve never greased. I’ve never put on anything in my life. Like forever, you know. I’ve never done that. Maybe he should blame his technique for being f*cking sh*tty. Not being able to do anything, but just hold. I’ve never cheated in my life. The referee was there touching me constantly, breaking us up, and moving us around.”
Jorge Masvidal responds to Gilbert Burns' allegations.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/uHBLySU2xD
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) April 10, 2023
“It annoys me because I’ve never put grease or Vaseline or anything on,” Masvidal continued. “I just go out there and compete. I’ve never done steroids. I’ve never missed weight. I feel I don’t have to cheat to beat any of these motherf*ckers so it’s whatever. Let him throw whatever he feels like out there.”
Gilbert Burns Issues an Apology to Jorge Masvidal
It didn’t take long for Gilbert Burns to walk back his comments, apologizing to his UFC 287 opponent just a day removed from Masvidal’s appearance.
“I would like to take a moment to apologize to Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal. The things that I said after the fight at the press conference for UFC 287, I said that he [used] lotion and I said it too much. I cannot prove that and I would like to send my apologies to Jorge and his team and take everything I said [back]. I hope he accepts my apologies.
“What I did was wrong and I have no proof that he did that and I don’t want to take nothing away from him. The guy’s a warrior 52 pro fights. I hope you have a good retirement and I hope you accept my apologies. Thank you guys.”
Winning four of his last five contests inside the cage, Gilbert Burns believes he has done enough to justify a UFC welterweight title opportunity. With reigning champion Leon Edwards currently slated to square off with Colby Covington this summer, Burns has his eyes on the winner while also being the official backup for the title tilt rumored for July.
