The Coronavirus Chronicles: Gilbert Burns

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Gilbert Burns can count himself fortunate as a member of the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster who has not been directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike fighters scheduled to compete at postponed events in Oregon, Ohio and England, he managed to get in his UFC Fight Night 170 co-main event with Demian Maia before the coronavirus outbreak altered the promotion’s plans. However, the days leading up to the 33-year-old’s appearance were far from stress-free.

“Wednesday night, when the [event was announced to have no crowd] and we don’t know what’s going on, I was freaking out,” Burns told Sherdog.com. “I was like, ‘Man, I hope I fight.’ I did a whole camp, and my parents were coming, my older brother, my niece. A couple friends [were] coming from Rio [de Janeiro]. I didn’t even care about the crowd anymore. I cared about the fight itself. They cancelled the media day, and they didn’t say anything [after that]. I was talking with [UFC staff] and I was like, ‘We are fighting, right?’ And they said, ‘For right now, you guys are fighting.’ I said, ‘Please keep me posted. I want to know.’ And then after a couple of hours, they said we are not going to have the ceremonial weigh-ins, but we will have the [standard] weigh-ins, and ‘you guys are 100 percent fighting.’ And I said, ‘OK, thank God.’ They said, ‘There’s no crowd.’ And I said, ‘I don’t care anymore. I’m fighting, and I’m happy.’”

In this exclusive interview with Sherdog, Burns discusses his spectacular victory over Maia, a hypothetical match with former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and his life back home in Florida amid coronavirus fears.

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