Gilbert Burns has no regrets about retiring from MMA earlier this year.
Burns (22-10 MMA, 15-10 UFC) retired after losing his fifth consecutive fight to Mike Malott by TKO in the UFC Fight Night 273 headliner in April.
The former title challenger has since made his UFC BJJ debut when he submitted Horlando Monteiro at UFC BJJ 9 in June. He also competed at RAF, where he lost to former UFC opponent Khamzat Chimaev by tech fall at RAF 13. Being around the gym has given "Durinho" zero feeling that he's missing out on anything.
"No, I look at these guys training – so when I was getting ready for RAF, I went to Kill Cliff a lot to wrestle, and I saw these guys sparring, and I don't miss it at all," Burns told MMA Junkie Radio. "I look like, 'Oh my God,
I forgot that. And one guy was dropped by a body shot, the other one almost got kicked in the face, and then knee on the body, and like, yeah, I don't miss that at all. I'm very happy just grappling, wrestling. I don't miss it at all, honestly. I look at the fights, and I'm very good friends with Pantoja, and I saw Pantoja fighting a war, and then I'm like, I don't miss that at all.
"I'm very happy that I did what I did in my career. Fought for the title, got big fights, couple of main events, and I'm done, and I'm very happy that I'm done. I don't miss at all. I miss my friends and everything, but I have a lot of new friends doing jiu-jitsu every day, grappling. So, yeah, I miss seeing Henri (Hooft) every day, Vicente every day, Gregory every day. Other than that, I don't miss the training, I don't miss getting kneed on my body, low kicks. No, I don't miss that at all. I'm very happy that I retired."
Burns will continue grappling when he takes on Gabriel Almeida at UFC BJJ 12 on Wednesday. He has no interest in competing in anything that involves striking.
"Grappling, yes, no striking," Burns said. "No one's going to punch this face ever again – no one. No Power Slap, not at all. That's no way. I'll do grappling, wrestling. No boxing. They offered me already a YouTuber that's from Misfits, we were talking, and I'm like, not now, maybe later. Now I don't want to. I don't feel like doing boxing."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Happily retired Gilbert Burns: 'No one's going to punch this face ever again'
