Gilbert Burns plots another run at the title with win over Sean Brady

For the first time in his 12-year fighting career, sixth-ranked welterweight Gilbert Burns enters a fight coming off back-to-back losses.  Burns headlines the UFC Vegas 97 fight card on Sept. 7 against eighth-ranked Sean Brady.

“I like this guy.  He’s 15-1.  I like that fight a lot,” Burns said during an appearance on the “Believe You Me” podcast.  “The guy’s good.  He’s beaten some high level competition, Kelvin Gastelum, a couple of older dudes that were very tough.  He went toe-to-toe with Belal [Muhammad] until he got a finish.  He’s a very tough dude.  I respect him, but I like the matchup.  When they said his name I like it very much.”  

Burns hopes to start another run at the title with a win over Brady and doesn’t have an issue facing teammate third-ranked Shavkat Rakhmonov.  

“The best scenario would be to beat Sean Brady, finish it quick, beat Kamaru [Usman], and beat whoever is the champion, Shavkat, I don’t care,” Burns said.  “We know we’ll fight each other.  It’s not bad blood, honestly.  We train.  We make each other better but everyone wants to be the best.”

Burns is friends with seventh-ranked Ian Machado Garry but wouldn’t hesitate to accept a fight against him.   

“I don’t care.  If we’ve gotta fight, we’ve gotta fight.  May the best man win.  ‘Oh, we trained before.’  Yeah, so what?  We training but I’m not trying to kill you.  We were just training,” Burns said.

If he defeats Brady, Burns plans to call out former titleholder Kamaru Usman for a rematch.  The two fought at UFC 258 in February 2021 with Usman defeating Burns via TKO.  

“I will call (out) Kamaru first,” Burns said.  “For sure I want that rematch.  It’s not that Ian Garry – for sure I would do that fight too, but for me, the guys that are in front of me, they’re the biggest fights.  Leon Edwards now has no opponent.  That’s a big fight.  Kamaru Usman, a former champ, rematch, is a good fight.  Colby Covington too.  He’s another one… A big win over these three guys is a title shot, so that’s what I’m looking forward too.”