Former welterweight challenger Gilbert Burns returns to action for the first time in eleven months this Saturday, looking to snap a four-fight slump in the main event of UFC Winnipeg.
Burns (22-9) is a 12-year veteran of the UFC, and a win is key to his career with the promotion moving forward. That might explain some of the time off, though Burns had planned on being back in action a little sooner.
“Honestly we thought we were going to come back a little earlier, I thought it was going to be February. I think that was the plan, to have a numbered event here in Canada, but then the UFC changed the plan,” Burns stated during the UFC Winnipeg media day this week.
Burns was then looking at the numbered cards in March (with the BMF title fight between Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway) and April, before the UFC settled on keeping the fight in Canada. “Then they had the dates for UFC Ottawa first, and then Winnipeg, and then the name was Mike Malott.”
The UFC did originally have Ottawa penciled in for its first Canadian date of 2026, with several fighters being told that was where they’d been fighting. When the event was shifted to Winnipeg, Burns vs. Malott was finally announced, eleven months on from Gilbert Burns’ last fight.
“So the fight with Morales was in May, around August. We had a meeting, we sat down with the team.” That’s when Burns started making plans for his return, looking “to close the little holes, to learn by my mistakes.”
Malott has shown strong grappling in his UFC run to date, and that’s something Burns has always exceled at. It’s also an area he may want to test Malott in.
“I like it, because he’s the type of guy, when he doesn’t have a fight he likes to challenge himself in grappling, and I respect it and I like that very much. And I want to try, I want to see, let’s see how good you are in grappling.” Singling out Malott’s guillotine and takedowns as strengths for the Canadian, Burns added “he’s good. He’s well-rounded. I’m here to test that.”
Watch the full UFC Winnipeg media day appearance by Gilbert Burns above.