Gilbert Burns Admits He Lost Track Due to Stardom After Khamzat Chimaev Fight

Gilbert
Burns’ celebrity status following his fight with Khamzat
Chimaev may have robbed him of some hunger.

Burns (22-8) came up short in a welterweight championship bid
against former teammate Kamaru
Usman in 2021. After bouncing back with a win over Stephen
Thompson, a still peaking Burns was matched up in a potential
title eliminator against Khamzat
Chimaev. “Durinho” put on arguably one of the greatest
performances of his life in a barnburner, despite dropping a
unanimous decision against the undefeated contender.

Burns recently revealed that the hype behind that matchup changed
things for him. Along with recognition and fame came financial
benefits and sponsorships, for which the Brazilian is grateful.
However, Burns believes the attention might have impacted his
career adversely as he gradually strayed from his goal.

“I think it a got a lot of recognition, what is not a bad thing. It
was good, lot of opportunities, couple of sponsors, the fans
recognizing everywhere,” Burns told Home of Fight. “And it built up
my platform to a different level. But then you kind of get caught
up with these a little bit, like making money, travelling, getting
recognition. And I think that kind of took me slowly away of my
path, that ‘Durinho’ that trains hard, want to become a champion.
Was not a bad thing to have that financial growth but it kind of
took me little bit out of my path.”

Burns bounced back from the Chimaev loss with consecutive wins over
Neil
Magny and Jorge
Masvidal. However, the former title challenger has since
dropped three straight against former champ Belal
Muhammad, current ace Jack
Della Maddalena and No. 2-ranked contender Sean Brady.
Burns is now scheduled to fight undefeated contender Michael
Morales (17-0) in the
UFC Vegas 106 main event on Saturday.