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Gilbert Burns recently reacted to Belal Muhammad wanting to fight at middleweight, rather than welterweight, for their upcoming clash. The two are set to face each other at UFC 288 in what will be a title eliminator.
Although the fight has now been announced, it wasn't smooth sailing to get Burns and Muhammad to sign on the dotted line. The weight class for the fight was a topic of major dispute as Muhammad wanted to fight at 185 pounds because he's observing Ramadan.
However, Burns was adamant in wanting to fight at welterweight and got his wish fulfilled after Muhammad agreed. Speaking about the same during an interview with Submission Radio, the Brazilian revealed why he did not want to fight at middleweight.
While suggesting that Belal Muhammad shouldn't use Ramadan as an excuse, 'Durinho' said:
"He asked for 185 and like I said, I changed a lot of habits, I used to go to 200-205 after camp, now I'm staying 187-188 walking around and this guy now wants to go to middleweight like, I get it, you're Muslim, you're doing Ramadan but on the same way, I don't care, I'm not Muslim. You do whatever you want you know. I respect, it's not that I'm talking sh*t, you do whatever you have to do but don't ask for excuse."
Catch Gilbert Burns' comments below (11:52):
Gilbert Burns and Belal Muhammad reveal they initially asked for Colby Covington for UFC 288
Gilbert Burns was recently in action against Jorge Masvidal at UFC 287. 'Durinho' put on an impressive performance and won the bout via unanimous decision, further solidifying his claim to a title shot.
Soon after his win over Masvidal, and the postponement of the initially slated UFC 288 co-main event between Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush, Burns was targeting a fight against Colby Covington. In an interview with MMA Fighting, he revealed that he asked for Covington first, only to find out that 'Chaos' is fighting for the belt next.
As it turns out, Muhammad asked for Covington as well, but was also told that the polarizing former interim champion will fight welterweight king Leon Edwards next.
