Gilbert Burns Eyes Middleweight Fight On One Day’s Notice
Gilbert Burns at middleweight is a wild sequence of words but could be apropos for the zaniness of 2020. Burns indicated via his personal Twitter account that he would make the step up for tomorrow’s UFC 249 card. This all came as a result of Ronaldo Jacare Souza testing positive for coronavirus and having to bow out of his scheduled fight with Uriah Hall. It was the only middleweight fight on the card and, as of this writing, takes the card from a 12 bout event to 11.
Gilbert Burns At Middleweight
The coming days will be intriguing to follow as hopefully further testing will be done on fighters and personnel alike. In lieu of this Jacare COVID-19 news, Gilbert Burns tweeted out multiple things in regards to filling this vacancy on the May 9th card. Some of it quite humorous but then illustrated a seriousness about stepping up with tweets like the one below:
185 tomorrow 👀 I can do it! Why not? I’m already here in Jacksonville! #ufc249 I know a guy
— GILBERT BURNS DURINHO (@GilbertDurinho) May 9, 2020
Souza’s originally scheduled opponent is riding back to back wins for the first time since 2015. Uriah Hall scored consecutive wins over Antônio Carlos Júnior and Bevon Lewis. Hall is a crowd-pleasing fighter, much like Burns. A prospective fight between Uriah Hall and Gilbert Burns is one that undoubtedly has amazing potential to be a barnburner. Burns is an experienced lightweight and welterweight competitor but has never fought at Middleweight as a pro-MMA fighter.
It remains to be seen if Durinho steps up to 185 lbs on a few hours notice or not. I theorize this ultimately will not end up going down. But I appreciate someone who is as game as Burns is. Anyone who chases a short notice fight in a third UFC weight class cannot be questioned in terms of temerity. The projected goal for Burns seems to be in the main event role against Tyron Woodley in a card tentatively slated for May 23rd.
