Shane Burgos has been keeping his head high following his most recent defeat.
The UFC featherweight contender fell short in his UFC 262 bout against veteran Edson Barboza back on May 15. Burgos (13-3 MMA, 6-3 UFC) was stopped by Barboza (22-9 MMA, 16-9 UFC) in the third round of their action-packed contest, a fight that won “Fight of the Night” and $75,000 bonuses for both men.
Burgos is not letting the defeat get to him despite now being 0-2 in his past two UFC outings. The 30-year-old believes he had enough to beat Barboza, but it just wasn’t his night.
“I don’t give a f*ck what anyone thinks of this, but I didn’t lose one shred of confidence into that fight,” Burgos told MMA Junkie. “I really think if we go in there 100 times, I think I’m going to win the majority of those. That’s no disrespect to him or anything like that, but there was no point in that fight, and it’s happened to me before, not a fight, but when you’re with fighters and you’re training with someone and you just know, ‘OK, this guy is better than me, so I’m just trying to land my shots in and just not trying to get my ass whooped.’ I never felt like that in any of my losses. Like, I didn’t feel I got my ass whooped. All three of my losses got ‘Fight of the Night,’ they were all competitive fights, and all those three guys are top 10 guys. I didn’t lose one shred of confidence.”
Burgos hopes to see Barboza once again down the line. After all, he respects the Brazilian and sees him as the highest profile opponent he’s faced in his career.
“This is a guy I’ve been watching since I was 15 years old,” Burgos said. “I had a similar approach to the Cub Swanson fight but in my mind, and no offense to Cub, Edson was even bigger because he was at a higher weight class and then coming down.
“So there were a lot of nerves in that fight. I didn’t know how I was going to match up with him. I’ve been watching his highlights for so long. I know how fast and how hard he kicks. I was nervous going into it, but I like those nerves. It wasn’t the bad nerves. Even after the fight I didn’t lose one shred of confidence. I’d love to run that one back one day. I really truly believe I’m better. There’s little adjustments that I didn’t do in that fight that would’ve made so much better.”
For now, Burgos plans to dedicate time to his family and his newborn baby and take time to heal the body from training and his fight at UFC 262. “Hurricane” hopes to return later this year.
“Always forward, that’s my life mantra,” Burgos said. “But yeah, I’m probably going to come back around the end of the year, maybe November, December. I don’t have anyone specific in mind now, but I really cant wait to get back in there.”
Shane Burgos ‘didn’t lose one shred of confidence’ in Edson Barboza loss, hopes for rematch
