Gilbert Burns sat at the podium of the UFC 287 postfight press conference on April 8 and issued the UFC an ultimatum: Book him a title fight next or just release him from his contract.
“I’m not asking, I’m demanding,” said Burns, who had just beat Jorge Masvidal in the main event in Miami. “Any time the UFC gives me a call asking for [a fight against] any opponent, I say yes. Now I’m demanding. I’m next in line to fight for the title; otherwise, let me go. Let me do my thing. There are guys making a million dollars per year in other organizations.”
It was the strongest statement Burns, 36, had ever made to the UFC. To his point, over the last 10 years, he’s been known as a “company man.” To hear him demand a welterweight title shot or release — it was certainly noteworthy.
Yet less than two weeks later, Burns had not only signed up for another five-round nontitle matchup, he’d also gone so far as to offer to fight lightweight Dustin Poirier, in a bout that wouldn’t have done much of anything for his title aspirations.
“That was a true [demand] when I made it,” laughed Burns, looking back on the sequence of events. “Until the champion, Leon Edwards, gave an interview saying he’s not fighting [in July] but in October in Abu Dhabi. July was an easy wait. July was right there. But all the way to October? I’m not waiting until then, heck no.”
Burns (22-5) will face Belal Muhammad (22-3) in the co-main event of UFC 288 on May 6 inside Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The 170-pound five-round bout was hastily thrown together last week, after the UFC 288 card lost a high-profile bout between Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush. The UFC was in need of a splashy matchup to add to that pay-per-view, and Burns and Muhammad, who were both already in strong position for a title fight, chose to accept the risk.
“What I love about this fight is that they both wanted it to be five rounds,” UFC president Dana White said in announcing the fight. “Two of the best guys in the division, and both think they deserve a title shot after this.”
For Burns, the risk comes in facing Muhammad less than one month after a three-round fight against Masvidal. Although Burns won every round of that fight and came out of it unscathed, it’s highly unusual to turn around for a five-round fight against an elite opponent so quickly.
And for Muhammad, the risk is arguably far greater. Muhammad was not scheduled to fight at all in the coming months, and will now make weight and face a ranked opponent on less than three weeks’ notice.
Burns is No. 4 in the ESPN welterweight rankings, while Muhammad is ranked fifth.
Muhammad, who is riding an eight-fight win streak, said he ultimately couldn’t pass up the opportunity, once the UFC offered a rare guarantee that a win would earn him a title shot. Muhammad has never fought for a UFC championship.
“If this had been a title fight, I would have said yes,” Muhammad told ESPN. “So, knowing that a win over Gilbert gets me a title fight, hearing that from their mouth — If you beat Gilbert, you’re next — I had to take that opportunity. I’m guaranteed a title fight if I win this, so it is my title fight.”
For Burns, accepting the quick turnaround was mostly about taking control of his own destiny. UFC president Dana White had a warm reaction to Burns’ title fight demand on April 8, but the landscape of MMA title contention is notoriously unpredictable and tends to change rapidly.
“If I don’t take the risk and sit down and wait [until October], I think Belal will fight [welterweight contender] Shavkat Rakhmonov or [former champion] Kamaru Usman,” Burns said. “I saw the possibility of me losing by sitting down and waiting, and I hate to sit down and lose [a position]. I’d rather risk it, get a fight, and if I lose, it will be by my own mistake and not sitting down.”
There are (far) more dramatic stories of the UFC’s efforts to save a PPV event. The behind-the-scenes drama of saving UFC 279 last September is worthy of the big screen. In 2018, the promotion moved an entire event from Las Vegas to California on short notice when headliner Jon Jones ran into a licensing issue in Nevada. That same year, the UFC restructured an entire card in Brooklyn after Conor McGregor showed up during fight week and threw a dolly at a fighter bus.
The story of Burns and Muhammad accepting this matchup, however, should steal the show a bit next week in Newark. The public drama of it spilled out a little during negotiations. Burns accepted the bout immediately during a flight delay returning from a three-day vacation to Mexico with his wife. Muhammad, who was in Canada at the time, had concerns about making weight, and the two spat back and forth for several days before coming to a deal.
And the stakes are undeniable. The winner will be firmly in line to fight for a title in his next bout, whether that’s in October against Edwards or in early 2024 against the winner of a fight between Edwards and Colby Covington. It’s not exactly what either asked for, but a guaranteed title shot is rare to come by in this sport.
“Gilbert has heart, he’s not just gonna fold or break,” Muhammad said. “But he’s gonna melt when I’m in front of his face for those five rounds. When he’s sitting there expecting it to be an easy fight and he’s telling his coaches, ‘How is this guy still in front of me? This was a two-week notice fight’ — when he’s looking for help but nothing is there, that’s when he’ll start to melt. That’s when he’ll start to be like, ‘Alright, I got a good paycheck. Maybe I’ll be that guy who now looks for money fights,’ because he’s not getting that title fight after this.”