Two weeks have passed since Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev faced each other in one of the best bouts of 2022 at UFC 273.
Despite losing by a controversial decision, Burns was showered with praise considering he gave the prospect his toughest test to date.
Now a couple of weeks after the war with Chimaev, Burns shared what he felt after the bout.
During an interview, he revealed:
“You know what makes me so mad? I work very hard, very hard. People have no idea. It’s not the training part for me. For me, it’s the mental aspect,” said Burns.
“My team is so big. I hired a lot of people. I have my own nutritionist, I have my own psychologist, I have my own strength and conditioning (coach), I have my own physical therapist, I hired a new coach, I hired everybody.”
“It’s such hard work I do to make sure I get ready… So for sure, whenever I lose, I get so mad because I know the amount of work I put in. And I cry,” ‘Durinho’ admitted.
“I don’t care. Haters gonna hate, I cry. I put in so much work.”
He also mentioned that the UFC president Dana White set him off after.
Explaining to that, he ventured back to his jiu-jitsu days to highlight the feeling he had after a defeat, especially in the big leagues.
“You know the reason why I cry? I’m gonna be very honest with you. Whenever I was coming up in the jiu-jitsu (community), I did a lot of great things on the color belts… But when I became a black belt, it was super (hard) to get a win, especially in the big tournaments,” he recalled.
For him, delivering a great performance is important, but it won’t matter if he loses the bout.
After reminiscing the story, he went on to details on how Dana White triggered the old feeling he had with losing.
“I tried to be positive and see the good things, then first person I see is Dana”
“and that same mentality was coming.”
“I was holding on (to not cry) every time that he tried to give me good props, a good thing, it was just making me more crazy. Then freakin’ Dana had to make me cry because he talked so much and I was so mad. When I walked out of the Octagon I was already crying, like, ‘Sh*t, I couldn’t hold it,’” concluded Burns.
While White may not have intended to trigger Burns on purpose, he nevertheless did and Burns was inconsolable.
Burns was also rewarded a win bonus despite the fact he didn’t win.