Gilbert Burns looks for consecutive short notice win at UFC Copenhagen
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Gilbert “Durinho” Burns is ready for his fight this weekend in at UFC Copenhagen.
The 33-year-old welterweight (16-3-0) will take on Gunnar “Gunni” Nelson (17-4-1) in the co-main event at the Royal Arena.
Burns is on a 3-fight win streak. Nelson is coming off a split decision loss to Leon Edwards at UFC London in March. The Scrap recently had a chance to sit down and chat with Burns.
The Brazilian has been grappling and doing Jiu Jitsu his entire life. He began training at the Academia Associação Oriente as a kid in Brazil. “My goals were to get my blackbelt and to be a Jiu Jitsu world champion,” said Burns. In 2011 he became a world black belt gold medalist. The same year he met Vitor Belfort and helped the UFC fighter train for his bout against Yoshihiro Akiyama.
Training with Belfort sparked an interest for Burns in MMA. This interest lead Belfort to choose Burns to be the head grappling coach for Team Vitor on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter. Burns’ would eventually have his first UFC fight in 2014.
UFC Copenhagen
Burns won his last fight in August against Alexey Kunchenko by unanimous decision. This was his first fight as a welterweight. The Hard Knocks 365 athlete was previously cutting weight to compete as a lightweight. Right now, Burns is “focussed on staying healthy and strong at 170”. He added he is always training and can get short notice fights due to the ease he has of making weight in the division.
“I know if the opportunity comes up, I am always training and will show up prepared.”
This ideal came to fruition for his upcoming fight in Copenhagen. Burns was called last minute replacement for Thiago Alves.
“Durinho”, which translate to “Little Tough Guy”, said he has the complete package to be a great fighter; excellent work ethic, a great coach and good training partners. He believes with a win this weekend, he will break into the top 20 in the UFC welterweight division and continue climbing the ranks.
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The Scrap’s Caroline Romero is a journalism graduate and has 3 children involved in combat sport. Make sure to follow her son Simon Romero on his Behind The Grind podcast on YouTube.
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