Gilbert Burns has fought three times in a row for the first time in his 13-year career, arriving at the UFC Vegas 106 at the intersection. He sees Saturday’s 17-0 clash with welterweight Michael Morales as an ideal start to a cinematic turnaround.
Burns found the headline for the UFC Fight Night card in Las Vegas after the promotion announced its decision to move them from Canada’s UFC 315 lineup last weekend, but said “Durinho” had been pushed back several times before. Every week, from pay-per-views in Miami on April 12th to Kansas City, Des Moines, Montreal and now UFC Apex.
“But that was good,” Burns told the MMA fight.
Burns has won one of the busiest runs in the UFC since the first quarter of the pandemic hit of 2020, challenging the then-champion Kamalusman, facing the likes of Demian Maia, Tyron Woodley, Stephen Thompson, Kamzachmaev, Jorge Masvidal, Beral Muhammad, Jacques de Ramadrana and Sande Eun Brandi. The world jiu-jitsu champions went 5-5 in that period and had to have some tough conversations after their latest setback.
Vagner Rocha, a jiu-jitsu veteran who decided to stop cornering the fighter after witnessing the knockout losses of Burns and Marlon Moraes, contacted Brady in September 2024 after “Durinho” lost the decision.
“He was black and white, and he was honest about telling the truth I needed to hear. It was hard to actually hear,” Burns said. “He talked about training, his potential, everything I didn’t do, what I should do, what injuries, what it was at the end of last year. And he said he wanted to be with me again, but he’d have to be my trainer.
The conversation brought about many “internal changes” from the trainer’s point of view, assisting in burns from losses that left a bad taste in the mouth.
“I didn’t gain weight, I didn’t recover well, I fought without energy,” Burns said of the Brady match. “It wasn’t ‘Durinho’. Durinho, who lost to the Beral, is fine. I was injured. Jack happened too. Jack was also knocked out.
Burns called Vicente Luk’s cousin Lucas Catta Preta as a nutritionist and asked Henry Hoft to lead the camp with reconnaissance assistance from Brazil from Daniel Mendes. All of that, Burns, trained with the Lanzie fighter jets of Shabkat Rakmonov and Ian Machado Garry, feels “very confident” in the 25-minute showdown with Morales.
“I’m smart and I have to follow the strategies we planned because he’s a very athletic guy,” Burns said. “He’s very strong, very explosive and too long for the division. It’s one of the longest reach in the division. He’s very dangerous. And I think he’s very athletic. I think this is the path to victory over him.
While it’s hard to ignore the four losses, especially if you’re about to turn 39, Burns is sure his job is safe even in negative scenarios. That being said, Durinho watched UFC Vegas 106 and is sure he’s winning. The fact that he offered a competitive performance against Della Maddalena, who just claimed Montreal’s welterweight belt, offers Burns the belief that he has tweaked a few from the top of the division.
“This is a fight to get back to the winning track,” Burns said. “I know that rankings won’t move me, but that doesn’t matter. (Della Maddalena) When he beats me and fights for the belt and wins, I lose.
“I think I’ve won two out of the mix,” he continued. “I wasn’t losing to Jabronis. I lost to champion Kamal. I lost to Chimev, who is fighting for the belt. I became champion. I became champion. I became champion. I am far away, morals have another victory.