ESPN MMA’s Brett Okamoto interviews Gilbert Burns about why he’s fighting Belal Muhammad on short notice at UFC 288 in a …
what’s up guys Brett okamoto from ESPN joined by UFC welterweight Contender Gilbert Burns who two short weeks ago fought Jorge masvedoll at UFC 287 in Miami and uh you know I was going to talk to you about that win kind of look back on it see like hey what’s next you know what’s going on in the welterweight landscape and just 14 days later man you’ve already booked your next fight a five-round co-main event against Bilal Muhammad at UFC 288 back to back back to back pay-per-views man um and this is all after in Miami you said that you were done doing this you weren’t going to fight anybody you were like no let me rephrase that you were just done fighting anybody and everybody you were going to wait for a title fight if they didn’t give you a title fight you didn’t even want to be with the UFC anymore you don’t even want to be on your contract and two weeks later dude finding the law how did how did we get here you know what what happened after Miami in Newark New Jersey uh that that was a true statement just to clarify that was a true statement until the champion Leon Edwards gave an interview saying that he’s not fighting July 22nd and I think they were building the hall with very long enough for this fight but whenever he said oh I’m not dumb just fighting October in in Abu Dhabi and I’m just like okay July was easy to wait you know it’s your life right there I can’t wait but all the way to October I’m not waiting all day you know heck no I said and then when I saw that and I saw Charlie’s always better pulled out and then I sub Allah Mohammed to eat it now you know that’s an opportunity right there and then I call Ali and then he said and I said he said oh maybe cold brew before I say oh really and then tweet all about Kobe and then I was coming back from from Mexico so I had a quick three days vacation in Mexico with the wife on the airport we had to lay on the flight and then I was oh okay and then I call Ali and then I tweet it out and then hunter called me right back he texted me right back and they say oh you want to fight he said yeah so he’s going to be available he said no Kobe’s fighting Leon and said who’s available and they say oh but Allah Muhammad they say that’s it that’s the guy you know we’re both on the race to to get a title shots so why not and it was a little drama to get the fight going he don’t want to do the weight cut and then and then he wants more money and this and that but we’re here now I’m very happy why for you does it have to be so soon like you said if if Leon doesn’t defend his title till the fall um like what what is it man I mean obviously this is nothing new we know that you love to fight but you you weren’t wrong when you were talking about at the press conference like hey like I need to make smart decisions the championship is the goal you know this seems like a risk it seems like an unnecessary risk honestly like when you’re going through those decisions like how do you how do you decide what what risk you’re willing to take uh I think the the risk if if I don’t take that risk right if I sit down wait I think Muhammad will fight shaft cut or or kamaruism and then I think either way of these winning or loss I think if shark cargo didn’t get abdominal when he could jump in me or if a Camaro goes out there and beats Bilal and Kobe Wings he’s another fight right there tomorrow against Kobe or if below go out there and beat tomorrow then you know you know what I mean like and uh I saw that that possibility of me losing see down lows and I hate to sit down and lose I’d rather risk get a fight and if I lose it was by my own mistake you know what I mean not a sit down mistake so I rather risk and lose everything then then sit down waiting lows you know yeah did you did in any of your conversations with uh Ali or hunter or anybody at UFC did you get an idea of why Leon is not fighting in the summer uh I think he has a small injury that’s what I heard he has a small injury he needs to take care of I don’t know if they’re gonna wait all the way to October I think I me personally they didn’t say nothing I think they’re gonna make that a little bit early maybe August or September but if you do have an injury if you don’t get better they’re gonna do whenever you’re ready so and that’s why that that’s changing my whole perspective I was ready to take a rest to relax but then when he said that when I saw I didn’t even watch the whole interview but I just saw all his decent that James October and I’m like damn now he changed it you know he changed it because Muhammad last fight was last year in Abu Dhabi he’s being inactive four or five six months he’s he wants to get another one so would be sharp cut or come out I don’t see another option and with a win or loss whoever wins one of that those possibly three fights two fights he could be next so let me risk well I gotta say uh everything that you you say makes perfect sense because it did seem like the law was someone interested in fighting Camaro I’d heard that but maybe that was going to be a fight that they looked at and you’re right you know if one of those wins and you’re just kind of like you have more control over your own destiny if you fight these tough guys of Walter White however Gilbert um that that that excuse doesn’t hold up if he would have fought Dustin Poirier you know what I mean like you’re willing to take on risk but that one you wouldn’t have been able to really solidify your shot right so there is part of this it’s just like man you saw an opportunity like I can get on a fight in a month right I mean that’s that definitely seems like it’s part of it as well because that’s important it does not fit into the Welterweight Title picture but yeah but whenever so so just to make it clear whenever I put myself into oh I I’m available to fight I’m really in I really am not my a lot of guys do that just to to a cloud they as they say nowadays or but whenever I say I mean it in my whole reality starts changing I’m planning training talk to my coach talking to strength conditioning PT everybody nutritionist if you can you think you can do it it’s going to be some work my body’s good I wait that way I’m eating healthy I’m not eating no added sugar I’m doing the cold plunge every day I’m lighter I’m healthy what do you think and I’m good I have no injuries and everyone said yeah you’re good let’s go let’s go let’s go and whenever I make that decision and below us oh I want to catch your way to say no I don’t now that I’m like walking around 185 186 you want to do I catch you before when I was 205 between camps no ABS yeah maybe then but now that I’m changing my whole lifestyle I’m not doing no catch you eight and then when when that fight was off the table like Monday Monday afternoon Monday night was off because he just wanted to catch away and he said I couldn’t make weight and as I trained in the morning I felt good I kind of make the whole plan for the week I since that I have came free now I’m ready to fight now let’s get someone out there and then I know the whole maybe top 10 in the in the in the world so we will not be able to do that for 288 and then I saw dusting all due respect I love the guy he sent me the heart sounds so we always talk when I bumped him a couple times he invoke a good guy great guy I like the guy a lot I’m a fan of the guy I just think you’ll be a nice freaking fight you know and uh at 170 I know if they pay him good they will make it whenever I make the decision to fight you know what give me Destiny for you I think that would be a great fight and they like it but it was not the plan they have to die soon right now but eventually below after a little bit more drama he needs more money he don’t want to make weight eventually he accepts and he’s a good deal but whenever I kind of is let me let me kind of explain it it’s not an easy decision yes I will fight he’s not yeah I’m going to tweet that out but I don’t want to lie to myself I don’t want to lie to my friends I don’t want to lie to no one but whenever I accept that I’m I might get hurt I might get into freaking training campaign circuit this and that weight Cuts whenever you accept and I put it out there he’s already inside of me so I already make that decision give me the other guy you know I’m already risky that makes sense it does yeah when you decide that all right I’m willing to fight on May 6th then you got to go all in mentally and then you’re there for whoever’s there that that part does make sense to me what about the five rounds part of this because I’m sure that I and I would like to talk to below I’m going to try to set up an interview with the law so I haven’t spoke to him yet I’m just thinking from the outside if he’s you know saying it’s going to be tough for me to make make wait in two weeks I’m a little surprised that he would agree to five rounds like how did how did the five rounds part of this come around we both asked for five rounds so never hurt their Thursday Thursday he I I was awaiting because he said Monday he said he will not make way Tuesday he said he will make the way so Tuesday afternoon he said he’ll make a way so I’m back in training doing everything he can we and then Ali Hunter said oh Wednesday you guys should know and then when is they passing nothing and Thursday morning I say hey I’m spoiled I just I’m going to stop my spot and then I say or any news and nothing and then Thursday afternoon hunter called me and then okay fights is going to be he’s done there he he wants to fight and before I ask he said you wanted five rounds again say yes I won’t fight around and say done deal because he asked for the same thing and say oh I like that I don’t know I don’t know if he’s I don’t think he’s at first I thought he was bluffing a little bit I think he Bluff with the weight I I know he can make where he make that before he fought short notice before I think he was bluffing but I don’t think he was bluffing five rounds because I know the guy strained you know he I saw him out of shape I saw him we have multiple friends you know and uh I always saw his running his training I was there on my way cut he was in the same room he was training as I was doing the weight cut so I know he’s training and he doesn’t look that big I think he was a bluffing for the wake up maybe trying to get more money or whatever it is I hope he gets I hope they you know he it’s a big step up I think he get compensated for that yeah for the five rounds I think it’s for his style a little bit he’s a lot of points like not Point fighter but he’s a lot of volume you know good intensity I think he probably runs kind of I love five Bronx but I think he I I guess he likes you yeah I uh you do love five rounds I mean you’re a guy who asked for five rounds when you when you train like obviously you just fought masve it all but it was three rounds do you train much differently for a five round five than a three-round fight are you going in kind of in three round shape for a five round fight or or do you feel like you’re in great shape I’m in a great shape to be honest and for the magic though on the beginning we did six seven rounds we were doing a lot of rounds and as the fight was getting close we we get the shorts we get around the shorts I mean at the end I was doing four to three rounds four three rounds now we start I did the I did seven rounds on Thursday uh yeah I think now we’re just gonna maybe do six on Tuesday seven or Thursday I don’t know whatever something like that a lot of changing guys it’s uh it’s a little bit different you know my father was a little bit more Striker you know so you get a lot of strikes in boxing guys they can’t get up good Vicente Kevin Lee helped me a lot I have other guys that helped me chew you uh for this fight I have Nick lentis that I believe is going to do kind of similar style I have McRae the Marcus Jackson get all the guys that can help me I’m just gonna keep changing these guys I stay in the middle but five six maybe six to seven around just two you still feel a little bit but he changed he changed now we understand more because I have my account is a very good friend of mine but he’s great at math and he know all my numbers so we have an open conversation about numbers and they say why you like five rounds because and then I said because I I think it I really can finish the guy you know I think three rounds those guys may be maybe go away you know and they said but look if you do five rounds and you win right like five ROMs you win by decision to paychecks right I say yes if you do two fights five rounds four paychecks right yeah but a lot on the body because it’s playing around with fighting we’re praying for the Iran Ten rounds two paychecks if you do three rounds yeah and you do you can do three fights earned six paychecks into only nine rounds you know okay I might stop asking about five rounds but but I want to become a champion and as a champion just gonna do five rounds so he said I got it but don’t keep don’t keep asking so much they say okay you got it it makes sense though right yeah I mean yeah the math the math checks out there um but yeah the the obviously the goal is to win the championship and then your five round fights and then your Championship money so you don’t even thinking about the three rounds and you don’t think about that anymore uh as the goal right now I want to become a champion you know I and like I said I after my interview on the boss conference against Neil Magna I was just like I want to work this year I want a busy year I want to I just want to work I don’t want and I’m getting everything that I asked for you know he’s manifesting is happening right now I’m glad that I changed a lot of my lifestyle and I came in I can do it I hope I keep I hope everything goes good on me because then I can say everything’s paid off but as of right now it’s paying off I’m feeling very good and been in below Muhammad there’s no question number one then I think finally I can kind of sit down relax take a little time off and wait for the title shot yeah and my kid is knocking on my door give me 30 seconds hey Cam and I’m almost done okay almost done you want you wanna come say hi you can say hi but then you gotta go back and watch Spider-Man right say hello what’s up buddy how you doing um you watch Spider-Man I like Spider-Man nice I like the fire yeah you like it man nice okay buddy go watch one more man and dad’s gonna finish this okay yeah just one quick one okay that’s almost done I promise I promise can you be good boy and wait like uh one more Fire Man I see you my brother can you Casey bye bye say bye bye yeah you can say bye bye say bye bye and then we’ll go okay bye-bye okay good boy good boy it doesn’t sound like I told you like officially but this is a number one contenders fight five rounds the law eight five win streak you’re up there in the rankings like this this is going to officially solidify you are your next fight will be for a championship you win this fight yeah yeah and uh it’s everything that I want you know I wanna he’s not he’s not I don’t want to fight for for the champion want to win that gold you know so for me that’s the next step I gotta go out there dominate finish Muhammad impressively and then it’s not the night they cannot deny anymore now he’s a done deal same with the contract and we’ll see I think I still I don’t think we wanna jump over Kobe I don’t think so I think that fights a done deal we gotta wait for Kobe but we’ll see everything goes in my way I’m crazy but I still might go as a backup because the way I see will never know an opportunity might show up and why not be ready for it you know like why not why don’t don’t just train like I do push the pace for five more weeks and go to London Abu Dhabi whatever it is make a way then we see a lot of things happen you know coffee happened to me mashed out got an opportunity we see those guys getting injury back to back I hope nothing bad happens to these guys but we’ll see but first thing first two weeks from now go out there be in New Jersey I’m so happy because a lot of things like crazy I have social media is crazy sometimes it’s not good but sometimes it’s good too because I got so many messages from the guys from new work so I have my content guy that he looks a lot of that I have my wife she’s logged into my to my my account too and they all look look at this guy look at that guy a lot of people from new work from New Jersey I was going to the event I thought about it man I might not going but whenever you got a fight I’m going now so I’m very happy to kind of give that fight for defense and great opportunity for me for my team for my family to go out there and so did you find myself as a number one container so great opportunity and let’s go two more weeks yeah do you have seen needed it I mean that that card needed a um obviously the main event is great title fight so Hutto coming back after retirement but um yeah in pay-per-view you have certain expectations and it was it was lacking something before before you guys jumped on it was not anymore and uh and another thing too I’m inspired by by freaking cowboy Cerrone you know when these guys start doing that and other guys too I think new Megan is another guy that gets that fights with no way no habit you know maybe one more guy in there I miss him but that’s the Cowboys are on your right finding anyone at any time Neil magazine but those guys were not a top five are fighting guys in the top five so yeah excited to be out there this opportunity is a tough appointed game I think you want to come prepare and you’re gonna have a good night two weeks last thing I would ask you about just to to real quick Circle back on Mazda fight because I just feel like you guys put so much into to it you know and then the fight happens and all of a sudden we’re just immediately talking about the next one which in your case actually makes sense because it’s four weeks later but with Jorge where you uh were you completely satisfied with it because I remember you know you and I talked about that fight and you were you were you were saying you wanted that fight to be five rounds because you felt like you could be such an action fight and you’re saying maybe I’ll stand with him because that part of my brain will just be like I want to stand with him I want to see what happens obviously it was a great fight um but him retiring afterwards uh I know you said you were disappointed you didn’t you didn’t get to finish like were you satisfied with the way that a big fight against jorgem as what all went yes sometimes uh I criticize myself so hard I have a conversation to couple my mentors and friends and Harry and it was a good fight you know the guy is very experienced for sure want to finish maybe we never know if it was five rounds maybe I could get a finish maybe we’ll never know that answer but he was game bro that guy can fight and a couple times I’m rocking very hard I know I landed good punch and then I think I do something before I go and I saw the left who was right there and then like man that guy can fight so he’s a dog so watching the fight back I do makeable mistakes that I’m already fixing because I think Muhammad and his team want to watch these fights so I’m already fixing those mistakes that I made it but I was a little bit like to having myself man I should get a finish but then when I watch the fight again I talk to Peter Balfour when I talked to Henry Hill for a couple other mentors they they kind of let me know now you did a great job you didn’t take no risks you fought a guy that was was sure it was not the beginning of his career but was the end no one to lose on the last fight this guy was danger and he was so smart you kind of took the risk very good you made good decisions in the fight after that conversation I was satisfied with the results you know before we saw man I should get a finish it isn’t that but then after the conversation I was very satisfied with my results for sure I mean you you try to get greedy a little bit in this game and bad things can happen right and Jorge is a guy who can catch people for sure even if you just caught him with something he’s always dangerous so always congratulations on that win and congratulations on uh your next fight man I’m really really looking forward to five rounds between you and Below Muhammad it is an elite welterweight fight and the winner should absolutely fight for the championship next so thanks for telling us how it came together and best of luck with the next two weeks and we’ll you know we’ll we’ll see you in action in New Jersey you’re welcome everybody thanks for having me and see you in New Jersey thank you for watching ESPN on YouTube for live streaming Sports and premium content subscribe to ESPN Plus