Gilbert ‘Durinho’ Burns has been in the UFC for more than 10 years now. He knows the ups and downs of the combat sports world and has tasted both glory and defeat. He was sitting at #8 in the welterweight division with 22-9-0 on his record, so fighting a newcomer at #12 in welterweight would not be extra beneficial for him, right? But he still agreed to fight undefeated 18-0-0 Michael Morales at  UFC Fight Night 256.

“I was like Michael Morales years ago,” Burns explained to Yahoo Sports.” I was making noise and making my way to the top, and Damian Maia, Gunnar Nelson gave me the opportunity. I feel like I have to do the same. It’s a test. If I go and win, I knock him off, and he can have another opportunity in the future. But he needs an opportunity, and who am I to say no?” He decided to be the ‘senior’ and do what was right and fight the best, no matter their tenure in the UFC. And he kept his end of the bargain even though he lost via TKO in Round 1.

Burns decided to speak up after his crushing defeat to the undefeated new prospect and posted a note on Instagram. He said, “Thankful for this journey! I’m still super blessed! Of course wasn’t the outcome I was looking forward to I, especially for this one, I work extremely hard, who saw, saw, but it’s the fight game and it’s life! Congrats to @michaelufc, wishing you and your team all the success! That’s it no sad stories! Grateful for this beautiful journey and for all the lessons! God is good all the time! All honors, praise, and glory are given to him in a win or defeat!”

Burns gave credit where its due and praised Morales for his performance. The fight lasted just over three minutes as Morales shut down Gilbert Burns with thundering strikes. Its a pretty big achievement for the Ecuadorian star since he is the second fighter to hand Burns a first round KO after Dan Hooker.

However, the way he administered the force, made some of the fans and veterans think on the lines of it being a lucky punch. Well, that doesn’t seem to be the case for Morales, who claims to have spent a lot of time in camp reviewing Burns and his tendencies inside the Octagon. so let’s see how he prepared for this fight.

Michael Morales admitted to studying his opponent before the fight

Morales had seen most of the fight footage from ‘Durinho’s’ past and pinpointed a weakness. The Brazilian tends to get into a weaker position if he’s packed up towards the fence. He also noticed that when the Brazilian is pressured, he tends to throw uncontrolled punches at his opponent, and this is what Morales took advantage of.

“We talked about this in camp,” Morales stated in the post-fight presser.“It was actually a big focus of our camps on the reaction that he has when he gets hit. And we know what he does when he’s backed up against the fence, and you actually have him kind of corralled,” Michael Morales further stated.

Now that he has defeated a top dog in his division, his next goal is definitely for the title. He decided to call out Ian Garry even though this fight might not happen soon.“Yeah, I’ve talked about Ian Garry. That’s a fighter that I’ve always wanted to fight. But I know that he’s won his last fight, so he’s looking up in the rankings right there. So, that might not happen,” Michael Morales stated in the post-fight press conference.

With that being said, Morales has surely come to the radar of Dana White. Are you excited to see him fight tougher opponents? Share your thoughts in the comments below.