Gilbert Burns Has No Plans to Come Out of Retirement

Gilbert Burns says he will not come out of retirement. The former UFC welterweight title challenger says he is content with his decision to step away from mixed martial arts and that the decision is permanent.

Burns, now 40, retired after a third-round knockout loss to Mike Malott at UFC Winnipeg in April. That defeat was his fifth in a row, and he decided it was time to close the chapter.

What he saw at the gym

Burns said a recent visit to the gym reminded him why he walked away. While preparing for a wrestling match under the Real American Freestyle banner, Burns spent a lot of time at Kill Cliff FC working on his wrestling, and he watched his former training partners spar. He described seeing one fighter dropped by a body shot, another nearly kicked in the face and knees landing to the body, and said the scene reminded him of everything he had forgotten. "I don't miss that at all," he said, adding that he is very happy just grappling and wrestling.

Burns said he feels the same when he watches fights. He mentioned seeing his close friend Alexandre Pantoja in what he called a war and said he did not miss being in the cage himself.

Looking back on his career

Burns never won a UFC belt, but he says he is happy with how things turned out. He fought for the title, took part in big fights and headlined a couple of main events, and he is glad to be done. The only thing he misses is the daily company of teammates and coaches such as Henri Hooft, Vicente Luque and Gregory Rodrigues. Those friendships remain, and he has also found plenty of new friends through the jiu-jitsu and grappling he now does every day. What he does not miss, he stressed, are the knees to the body and the low kicks that came with every training camp.