Gilbert Burns ‘moving forward’ after Jorge Masvidal turned down fight (again), likes Belal Muhammad matchup

What Gilbert Burns cares about most is fighting in January at UFC 283 in Brazil with or without Jorge Masvidal.

[autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag] is done waiting for [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag].

According to Burns, Masvidal has turned him down for a third time. “Durinho” said he was offered Masvidal for UFC 281, UFC 282 and UFC 283, but the matchup is yet to come to fruition.

“Just letting everyone know that @ufc offered me @GamebredFighter 3x First time was for Nov 12. He said he needs more time, second time for Dec 10 he said he was going to 🇧🇷 to fight me and now he just said no again! 🤷🏾‍♂️ so I guess the B from his BMF belt doesn’t stand for bad.”

Burns (20-5 MMA, 13-5 UFC) hasn’t competed since his barnburner against Khamzat Chimaev this past April. Although he lost the bout, Burns’ stock skyrocketed after taking the dominant, unbeaten star to the brink. But that was Burns’ only fight in 2022 which has frustrated him. He is set on returning Jan. 21 at UFC 283 in Rio – whether or not it’s against Masvidal.

“Now it’s up to the UFC,” Burns told MMA Underground. “I think they really want me to fight Masvidal, but I’m not gonna wait. They say I’m fighting in Brazil, so I’m just waiting for an opponent in Brazil, and then later we can make the Masvidal fight if they still want it. Right now I’m moving forward.”

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Burns went down the list of all the available ranked welterweights and said he’d be willing to fight any of them. But if he could pick, he thinks Belal Muhammad makes the most sense.

“At this point, I think Belal Muhammad,” Burns said. “Just because he took my place in the rankings. That would be a good fight, and that is the one that is more close in the rankings, but at this point, I don’t care. I know everybody wants to see me in Brazil.”

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