Gilbert Burns Takes Back Claims of Belal Muhammad Not Deserving a Title Shot

Gilbert Burns claims he labeled Belal Muhammad unworthy of a title shot mostly because he doesn’t like “Remember The Name” very much.

A welterweight title shot has inexplicably evaded Muhammad, who is currently on a 10-fight unbeaten streak that includes a dominant decision win against Burns. Burns recently received some flak from Muhammad for stating that “Remember The Name” still doesn’t deserve a gold bid.

However, “Durinho” has now backtracked on his comments, even offering an apology to Muhammad. Burns blamed his comments on his dislike for Muhammad due to the latter running his mouth after their fight.

“I think Belal Muhammad deserves to fight for the title,” Burns recently said on Renato Carneiro’s YouTube channel. “For the numbers, you know. He deserves [it]. The guy has a crazy winning streak. Ten fights, I don’t know. I think he deserves [it].

“To be honest, I just have something that I’m like, ‘That guy beat me. I got hurt,’ then he was talking so much. But I shouldn’t have said it the way I did. I apologize. I think he does deserve the title shot even though I don’t like the guy very much.”

While Burns would like to see Muhammad get his long overdue shot, he isn’t sure if that will materialize given recent events. The Schmo recently reported that Muhammad’s name was not among the three opponents offered to welterweight champ Leon Edwards for UFC 300 on April 13.

“I lost to the guy, I was injured. He was kind of like, ‘Oh, I beat Gilbert Burns this way’.…I don’t hate anyone. I just don’t like him very much because he was saying too much, but I wish the guy the best,” Burns said. “I do believe he deserves the title shot. I don’t know if the UFC gonna give or not because Dana just said ‘Oh we asked Leon Edwards three different opponents.’ And the guy [Muhammad] is supposed to be the No. 1 contender. They don’t give to the guy. But my opinion, I want him to fight for the title.”

Meanwhile, Burns is set to return to action on Saturday against surging Australian contender Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 299 at the Kaseya Center in Miami. Maddalena hasn’t lost a fight since 2016, mounting a 16-fight winning streak that includes six UFC outings.