UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns believes his next fight will be against Leon Edwards or Jorge Masvidal.
Top three UFC welterweight Gilbert Burns believes his next fight will be against Leon Edwards or Jorge Masvidal, but ‘Durinho’ wants to ‘beat every single guy’ in the division.
The Brazilian rebounded from his title loss to Kamaru Usman with a unanimous decision win over Stephen Thompson at UFC 264 and believes he’s just one or two fights away from title contention.
“I want the one to get me a clear way to the title,” Burns told TMZ in a recent interview (via Abhinav Kini of Middle Easy). “If that’s Leon Edwards, that’s the one I want. If I need two more fights, give me Masvidal now, give me Leon Edwards later.
“I’m not going to lie to you — I want to fight everyone in the division. I still have a dream to battle against Colby, rematch with Kamaru, I want to beat Masvidal, Nate Diaz, Leon Edwards, I want to beat every single guy, especially a tough one in that division. So no preference. … And I do believe it’s against Leon or Jorge Masvidal. Between these two is my next fight.”
Burns, 34, is 7-1 in his last eight fights with the lone loss coming to reigning welterweight champ and pound-for-pound #2 Usman. The Xtreme Couture product will likely go on to face Edwards in a title eliminator before he challenges the winner of Usman vs. Covington II for the title.