Gilbert Burns is looking for an opportunity to step into a bout on short notice.
On Monday, Luke Rockhold announced that he was forced to pull out of his main card fight with Sean Strickland following injury. It took no time for other fighters to volunteer to step in, one of those being Gilbert Burns.
Burns has been actively looking for a fight with one of the top welterweights. He has been pursuing Jorge Masvidal, Leon Edwards, and Nate Diaz in recent weeks. Now that Masvidal and Edwards have linked up together and Diaz is rumored to be facing Vicente Luque, that leaves Burns on the outside looking in.
With no luck among the top five in his division, Burns has decided to try a last-minute fill-in in the weight class up, He took to Twitter to make his request.
“Middle weight Nov 06? Sign me in I fight Strickland and I meant it,” Burns wrote on Twitter.
Luke Rockhold was making his return against Strickland after being retired from the sport for two years. With this injury, his return will be pushed back. Although fighters have been seeking to replace him, there is no word yet if someone will. Strickland could choose to wait for Rockhold to be ready.
Strickland was coming into this matchup having won five in a row. He is currently sitting in the number seven spot of the official UFC middleweight rankings.
Would you like to see Gilbert Burns step in and face Sean Strickland at UFC 268 in New York City?
