Gilbert Burns

When Burns was a little child, his father proposed to fix the customer’s vehicle in exchange for all of his sons taking jiu-jitsu classes for three months. Burns began his studies at Welton Ribeiro’s Academia Associaço Oriente, a Nova Unio subsidiary.

Up to the 2007 World Championship, where he finished in second place, he trained with Nova Uniao. Burns gained notoriety in 2009 after taking home the silver medal in the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

Burns had a remarkable degree of international success in 2010 while competing throughout the globe. He overcame Celso Venicius in the World Pro Cup trials, advanced to the semifinals of the European Open in January, defeated Claudio Mattos in the World Cup finals in Abu Dhabi, and won the Brazilian Nationals.

Burns received the most acclaim in 2011 when he won the gold medal at the World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships. Burns took home a bronze medal from the 2015 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships (ADCC).

Nate Diaz accepted Burns’ challenge to compete in a grappling bout at a planned Submission Underground event in November 2020, but the match was never held. On April 30, 2021, Burns defeated Rafael Lovato Jr. in the Who’s Number One main event by unanimous decision. On November 6, 2021, he then engaged in combat with Lucas Barbosa in the BJJ Stars 7 main event. Burns was trapped in a rear-naked choke and lost by submission.

Burns opted to focus primarily on mixed martial arts after winning the 2011 World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championships. He made his professional debut in January 2012. On the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil in 2012, UFC fighter Vitor Belfort selected Burns to serve as Team Vitor’s chief grappling coach. Burns faced Jose Salgado in his professional MMA debut at CFC 5 in 2012. He utilized his superior grappling skills to rear-naked choke Salgado in under three minutes. Burns kept up his winning ways by going on a 7-fight winning run in the local MMA scene, all of which came in the opening round.

At Lawler vs. Brown vs. Viscardi Andrade: UFC on Fox 12, Gilbert Burns made his UFC debut. He prevailed by unanimous judgment in the match. Burns then fought Christos Giagos at Lightweight in the UFC 179 event. With three seconds remaining in the first round, Gilbert used an armbar to submit Giagos, earning his first Performance of the Night bonus.

Prior to taking on Rashid Magomedov at UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson 3, he defeated Alex Oliveira in his subsequent match. Burns suffered his first defeat in MMA at the hands of Magomedov, who twice downed him and outperformed him the entire time to win by unanimous decision.

Following this, Burns lost to Michael Prazeres and Dan Hooker twice in his next five fights, going 3-2 overall. After the Hooker defeat, Burns recovered momentum and won his following two fights against Olivier Aubin-Mercier and Mike Davis before switching to Welterweight to face Alexey Kunchenko at UFC Fight Night: Shevchenko vs. Carmouche 2. Burns defeated Alexey in a result that was unanimous.

He defeated Gunnar Nelson, Demian Maia, and Tyron Woodley in his subsequent three Welterweight fights to earn a crack at the UFC Welterweight Championship against Kamaru Usman at UFC 251. Burns, unfortunately, tested positive for COVID-19, and the fight was moved to UFC 256 and then UFC 258.

Burns knocked Usman out in the opening round but was unable to finish the title because Usman bounced back and outclassed Burns. Usman TKO’d Burns with punches in the third round to conclude the fight. Gilbert overcame the setback to triumph over Stephen Thompson at UFC 264 by a majority decision.

On April 9, 2022, Burns faced Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 273. He was defeated by a unanimous decision. The Fight of the Night trophy was given to the contest. On January 21, 2023, Burns and Neil Magny squared off at UFC 283. In the opening round, he submitted his opponent with an arm-triangle choke to win the match. At UFC 287, Burns will take on Jorge Masvidal on April 8, 2023.