Gilbert Burns: Chimaev fight was a turning point, but not in a good way

Gilbert Burns has been a part of the UFC for over ten years. Back in 2014, "Durinho" made his debut, six days after his 28th birthday. The Brazilian made his debut in the welterweight division, but he spent the early part of his UFC career mostly in the lightweight division. His real breakthrough came when he returned to the welterweight division.

Burns scored four victories in a very short period of time, defeating Demian Maia and Tyron Woodley, among others. That streak earned him an attack on the belt, but Kamaru Usman was better than him in the head-to-head match. Burns then recorded several more resounding victories (Thompson, Masvidal, Magny), but the match that probably marked him the most was actually the one in which he lost.

As you can guess, it was a match against Khamzat Chimaev. In April 2022, Burns crossed gloves with Khamzat, a fighter who until then seemed like an untouchable "monster", someone who was impossible to threaten inside the cage. However, Burns showed the world that Khamzat is also a human being, very vulnerable, with a handful of flaws. Burns had Chimaev shaken on several occasions and gave him "hell" during the 15-minute fight. Chimaev still managed to win by unanimous decision, but Burns impressed with his resistance. Their match was one of the best UFC matches of that calendar year, and many still fondly remember that fight today.

Neil Magny and Jorge Masvidal

It was an important experience for Gilbert, who later defeated Neil Magny and Jorge Masvidal, but when the most serious challenges came, Burns failed. Gilbert had three losses in his last three appearances, and it was the match against Chimaev that he highlighted as something that led him to a losing streak.

- A lot has changed. Honestly, I think it went too far after the Chimaev fight. I got a lot of attention, which is not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of opportunities opened up, new sponsors, fans recognizing me, all of that took my platform to a new level. But then all of that fame, more money, traveling and everything else kind of caught up with me. I think it slowly took me off track, away from ‘Durinho’ who trains really hard and wants to become a champion. It’s not bad to grow financially, but it threw me off track. These few losses were good for me because they made me look back on all of that, think about what I can change and adapt - Gilbert explained to Home of Fight.