Overview
- After a third-round knockout by Mike Malott at UFC Winnipeg, Gilbert Burns retired in the Octagon and left his gloves on the canvas.
- He quickly booked a jiu-jitsu match for July 11 in Rio de Janeiro against Piter Frank at the Connect Heroes event.
- Yahoo Sports, citing The MMA Hour, reports that Burns also signed on for Karate Combat’s new Pit Submission Series.
- He said the Malott loss showed he could no longer beat the elite, so he scrapped a planned three-fight farewell that would have started with a Colby Covington callout and ended with a Brazil sendoff.
- Burns plans to move into fighter management, though he said he would consider one last UFC bout only if offered a home fight in Brazil, which he believes the promotion will not stage this year.