Gilbert Burns is quickly growing tired of waiting for Jorge Masvidal to step into the Octagon with him.
Speaking with John Morgan of MMA Underground, ‘Durinho’ revealed that he had been scheduled to face ‘Gamebred’ on three separate occasions including this past weekend’s stellar UFC 281 card and next month’s UFC 282 event featuring a light heavyweight championship rematch as its main event. Unfortunately, neither of those cards will feature Gilbert Burns vs. Jorge Masvidal, and the No. 5 ranked welterweight places the blame completely on Masvidal.
“I’m getting kind of frustrated of waiting so much because the UFC said they’re gonna give me [Jorge] Masvidal. They want to give me a big fight and I said, ‘Okay, I like it.’ It took so long for them to offer it. They finally offered it for MSG, November 12th. Jorge Masvidal. I said, ‘Wow, I like that.’ Then a couple weeks later, ‘Oh, he’s not going to be ready. He have a procedure on his hand, but we think he’s gonna be ready for December.’ That’s what he said. Okay, December 10th.”
Of course, December 10th is the next UFC pay-per-view event, UFC 282, scheduled to be headlined by the rematch between champion Jiri Prochazka and former titleholder Glover Teixeira. Nowhere to be found on that card is a fight between Masvidal and Burns. As ‘Durinho’ continued to discuss the situation, he revealed that Masvidal instead wanted to fight in Rio this January at UFC 283.
However, with the Rio card just two months away, Burns confirmed that Masvidal once again turned down the fight.
“Now it’s getting closer to Rio, he said no again so I’m just not gonna wait anymore. It’s just a little bit frustrating because especially, who he is. You know, the BMF champion don’t want to take a fight. Just be honest. The whole is, just be honest about it. You don’t want to fight right now. You want to take more time. Gonna wait for Conor [McGregor]. Or the legal thing going on with Colby [Covington]. Whatever it is, just be honest about it.”
.@GilbertDurinho Burns just accepted a fight with everyone in the welterweight rankings. 🤣 🤣 🤣
Belal: I'll fight him.
Brady: I'll fight him, too.
Chiesa: I'll fight him, too.
Magny: I'll fight him, too.
Pereira: I'll fight him, too.
D-Rod: I'll fight him, too.#UFC283 pic.twitter.com/fxszafdnbX
— John Morgan (@JohnMorgan_MMA) November 15, 2022
Gilbert Burns is Sizing Up Two Potential Opponents for His Return to the Octagon
With the proposed fight against Jorge Masvidal seemingly dead in the water, Gilbert Burns is ready to move on and already has his eyes set on pretty much the entire welterweight division.
“Belal Muhammad, he’s the one that doesn’t have a fight. I’m interested. I will do it, but in the same way, he just got a big win in Abu Dhabi [against Sean Brady]. It doesn’t make sense to come all the way to Brazil to get a freaking hard fight, so I get it. Khamzat [Chimaev] will maybe fight Colby. I’ll fight him, I don’t care, but he just fought. Stephen Thomspon is scheduled to fight Kevin Holland. Geoff Neal is scheduled to fight Shavkat Rakhmonov. Sean Brady just got a loss. I’ll fight him too if he’s available.”
Gilbert Burns went on to list a number of potential opponents he’s ready to throw hands with including Michael Chiesa, Daniel Rodriguez, and Neil Magny. The ‘Haitian Sensation’ is coming off a third-round submission victory over ‘D-Rod’ earlier this month. Magny even called out ‘Durinho’ following his victory on November 5th.
Burns responded to Magny’s call-out inside the Octagon on Twitter, letting the winningest fighter in UFC’s welterweight division know that he’ll be ready to throw hands when the promotion touches down in Rio early next year.
“Congrats @NeilMagny last time I heard @ufc said I had an opponent for [Brazilian flag emoji] if he doesn’t show up, we can dance I’m in 100% to make this Fight happen! For now great finish and congrats on your record.”
Congrats @NeilMagny last time I heard @ufc said I have an opponent for 🇧🇷 if he doesn’t show up, we can dance I’m in 💯% to make this Fight happen! For now great finish and congrats on your record! ✊🏾✊🏾✊🏾
— GILBERT BURNS DURINHO (@GilbertDurinho) November 6, 2022
With Jorge Masvidal seemingly out of the conversation for a fight in Rio, we could very well see Neil Magny and Gilbert Burns mix it up this new year.
