Gilbert Burns, Who Wants A Title Shot, Believes Things Could Get Weird With Kamaru Usman
A victorious Burns wants a welterweight title shot, which is why he believes things could get weird with UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman, as the two are teammates.
“I don’t know – it’s going to be weird, but we’re both professionals,” Burns said at the post-fight news conference (via Danny Segura & John Morgan of MMA Junkie). “I like the guy a lot. He motivated me a lot when he became champion and I saw him come from zero. And we always like to work together because I have the jiu-jitsu and he has the wrestling. So I don’t know. It will be weird, but I want to fight for the title and he’s the champion, and that’s the only reason I would call for this fight because else it wouldn’t make sense. I want to go for the title next and I know (Jorge) Masvidal and all that craziness. But I told (UFC president) Dana (White) backstage I’m available for July. So if those guys keep being crazy, I want to fight for the title. If I don’t fight for the title, give me who’s available. If not Colby (Covington), give me Leon Edwards or whoever. I just want to stay busy.”
Usman did congratulate Burns on social media after his victory, but nothing else was said by the champion.
Burns says he is happy with his victory over Woodley, but there are still some things that need to be worked over.
“I executed everything I trained. I visualized everything with the finish,” Burns said. “I didn’t get the finish, but that is not at bad thing because I wanted to show everyone I could fight five rounds with a former champion, take him down and do everything that I did. For sure, there are a lot of things that I need to get better – a couple of things that (coach) Henri (Hooft) pointed for me. But I’m happy with my performance for sure.”
There is no word yet on where Burns will get ranked when the rankings come out in a few days, as Woodley was sitting in the #1 position before the loss.
