Gilbert Burns dismisses Belal Muhammad’s 170-pound title bid, claims injury altered fight outcome at UFC 288
Gilbert Burns does not foresee former opponent Belal Muhammad getting the next welterweight title shot.
Speaking to Middle Easy, Burns discussed the state of the 170-pound division and if the number two ranked contender Muhammad could next vie for the crown Leon Edwards currently holds.
When asked if he was surprised by some rumblings that the Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad rematch might not be next, Burns said:
“No, and I just knew. A friend of mine just called me and said hey, I know you know this but just to let you know if you didn't get hurt on your injury. It already happened, I'm not giving no excuses. But if you had beat Belal in your last fight you would've headlined freakin' UFC 300. You know that right?"
"I'm like oh I never thought about it, but yeah you're probably right. But I lost, it is what it is. I kind of felt bad a little bit but it is what it is, you know, it's a show. I know the UFC gotta put the best fights and I don’t think honestly Belal Muhammad deserves to fight for the title. But honestly I'm not intrigued.”
Check out Gilbert Burns discussing the idea of Edwards vs Muhammad II below:
Gilbert Burns vs. Belal Muhammad and how their UFC 288 fight played out
Gilbert Burns last competed in May of last year and did so against Belal Muhammad. This transpired at UFC 288 and served as the pay-per-view co-main event.
Per Burns's account, he sustained a shoulder injury in the first frame of the fight after Muhammad stuffed a takedown, and the cumulative body weight of both fighters came down on Burns's prone shoulder.
The Brazil native admitted he thought about quitting during the bout after it became clear his left shoulder was severely compromised. Burns kept pushing with the thought in the back of his head that this fight was positioned as a title eliminator, and he yearned for another shot at the welterweight belt.
'Durinho' would lose via unanimous decision and managed to avoid post-fight surgery despite a torn deltoid, second-to-third-grade AC joint tear, a trapezius tear, as well as C-4 and C-5 neck sprains. All of these ended up being partial tears and were not major, which ultimately informed the decision for Burns not to undergo surgery.