Gilbert Burns will be returning to the octagon for the first time in almost a year, as he has just been booked against Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 299 on March 9th, 2024. By the time that he steps into the cage to face Maddalena at the event it will be a few days over 10 months since he last competed, with a large part of that layoff being the result of a shoulder injury he suffered in his last fight. Burns is obviously an incredible BJJ competitor but he’s also reached the highest level of MMA as well, and he currently stands at fourth in the UFC welterweight rankings.
Burns has had a difficult time in the last few years though, after starting off his MMA career with a series of incredible performances. He went 7-0 with 7 finishes on the regional MMA circuit to begin with and was signed to the UFC in 2014 as a top prospect in the division. Although the start to his time in the UFC wasn’t perfect, he went 6-3 during his first four years there and slowly worked his way up the division. That was the turning point in Burns’ career though, as he went on a six fight winning streak against some of the best welterweights in the planet and earned himself a title-shot.
Kamaru Usman knocked out Burns and he’s had some difficulty since losing that title-fight, going 3-2 with his most recent outing being a decision loss against Belal Muhammad. Gilbert Burns will be looking to bounce back with a win over Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 299 in order to re-establish his place at the top of the division, although Maddalena is not an easy opponent. He currently holds a 16-2 professional MMA record and hasn’t lost in the UFC yet, with 3 ‘Performance of the Night’ bonuses in his 6 wins.
The UFC announced the news that Gilbert Burns was going to fight Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 299 in a recent post to their official Brazilian Instagram account
