Last week, the UFC world saw a veteran star hang up the gloves. At the UFC Winnipeg fight night event, Gilbert Burns retired after losing to rising contender Mike Mallott in the main event. For the Brazilian, the retirement was highly emotional as he ended a decade-long journey fighting under Dana White’s banner. Though Burns made that tough call, the veteran revealed that he could consider clashing one more time in the UFC.

During a recent interview, Burns offered to fight one last time if the promotion returns to Brazil this year.

“I think the only thing would be the last fight in Brazil,” Burns told TMZ Sports. “You know, that’s the only thing that I’ll kind of be open to. I think I can do it. But an opponent, a name, a fight, not really.

“Just if they say we are going to do the fight in Brazil. If you want to do your last fight, then for sure I’ll say ‘yes.’ But I heard they are not going to Brazil this year. So, I’m not going to wait till next year. But I’m content with my retirement.”

For the UFC, Brazil has been one of the top spots where events consistently draw strong attention from the fans. The country has produced marquee champions like Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo, Alex Pereira, and Amanda Nunes. Because of that, the promotion usually visits the country at least once a year with a numbered or fight night event. The last time the UFC held a spectacle in Brazil was last year, when former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira defeated Mateusz Gamrot in Rio in October.

However, the promotion hasn’t scheduled an event in Brazil this year so far. Typically, they prefer going there around the September–October window, so the UFC could still announce an event later. In that case, Burns, who last performed in front of his home crowd in 2023 with a win over Neil Magny at UFC 283, could get another chance to fight in front of his compatriots for a proper send-off.

Burns is already set to face Piter Frank at Connect Heroes in Brazil for a jiu-jitsu match. But the veteran had much bigger plans if he hadn’t retired at UFC Winnipeg last week. 

Gilbert Burns planned to continue in the UFC if he hadn’t lost in Canada 

Indeed, it was a thought-out decision for Gilbert Burns to retire in Winnipeg. But it seems the Brazilian had a proper vision for how his career was supposed to end. The only thorn in his plan happened to be his fifth straight loss against Mike Mallott, which changed everything. Why?

Further, ‘Durinho’ revealed that he doesn’t believe Mallott is the same caliber as previous opponents like Jack Della Maddalena and Michael Morales. So, if he had actually won that day, Burns would’ve stayed in the UFC, called out Colby Covington for a clash at International Fight Week, had two more fights, and then called it a career.

“No. If I was winning, no way I was going to retire, you know,” Burns added in the same interview. “If I could beat this guy, for sure I could beat a couple of more guys. So, the way I was seeing this, Michael Morales was outside of the rankings with a good resume that could possibly become ranked.

“But the guys that I fought before him, those guys, they were the top guys right now, all top five. Jack Della Maddalena, former champ, Belal, former champ. Michael Morales and Sean Brady, all top 5. This guy was outside the rankings. So my goal was, I’m gonna beat this guy, I’m gonna call out Colby, I was going to fight at International Fight Week, then I’m gonna beat two more guys, and that might be it.”

Now, with Burns actually aiming to fight one more time in Brazil, the UFC could be interested in putting him against Colby Covington. The most interesting part is ‘Chaos’ already called ‘Durinho’ out last year, and that’s an amazing clash served on a plate. But would Dana White and the matchmakers entertain it?