With the news of the scheduled co-main event of Charles Oliveira and Beneil Dariush at UFC 288 being pushed back to UFC 289 due to an injury to Oliveira; the main card for 288 now looks fairly slim. One name who has been pushing hard to fill this void is welterweight contender Gilbert Burns. Fresh off his unanimous decision victory over Jorge Masvidal, Burns posted several tweets suggesting that he was down to compete at 288.
Burns’ inclusion would certainly be a welcome addition due to his rising star power and reputation as an exciting fighter. UFC boss Dana White seemed to welcome the idea of Burns jumping in on short notice too stating ‘He (Burns) has been blowing me up all day too, so probably’ when asked whether Burns could feature on the card.
The problem is that it takes two to tango. So who could be Gilbert’s dance partner? Here’s a look at 5 guys I think would best suit the task
Belal Muhammad
This is the one I think that makes the most sense. Sitting next to each other in the Welterweight rankings, at 5 and 6 respectively, the UFC could really bill this one as a title eliminator. Both guys have been clambering for a shot at Leon Edwards since the Brit defended his crown on home turf against Kamaru Usman. However, it seems more and more likely that the UFC will be handing the next shot to Colby Covington. So why not let the only other contenders face off to see who goes next?
Belal has shown in the past his willingness to take a fight on short notice. Historically the UFC do also remember who has done them a favour in their matchmaker meetings. Dana had previously stated that they were working on a fight between Belal and rising star Shavkat Rakhmonov. However, the it’s all gone quiet on that front which probably means that fight isn’t signed.
I think this is the fight the UFC would like to make. But with such high stakes on the line, it could be tough getting both parties to sign on the dotted line.
Kamaru Usman
Okay I admit this matchup is highly unlikely.
The pair previously faced off for the belt at UFC 258. Usman finished Burns to retain his title. During the first round though, Burns really gave the champion at the time a lot of trouble.
Rankings wise it does make a lot of sense. But Usman went 5 rounds with Edwards in March so probably isn’t in fight camp. He did say that he wants to turn around fairly quickly in his post fight speech. This would be a great opportunity to throw his name back into contention if he was willing to do so.
Stranger things have definitely happened lets put it that way.
Shavkat Rakhmonov
Shavkat is the true definition of a rising star. With a perfect professional record of 17-0, 16 of those wins coming by way of finish, the 28 year old has really caught just about every fight fan’s attention over the last couple of years.
Rakhmonov is the only other fighter ranked close to Burns who isn’t already matched up or hasn’t gone up against the Brazilian previously.
Although this would be the fight that would probably get fans all over the world the most excited, Rakhmonov had an absolute war with Geoff Neal at UFC 285 and for that reason this one may come a little too soon.
As well as this, Shavkat is someone the UFC are probably trying to be very careful with. They won’t want to derail the hype train with a short notice loss which would be a real possibility against a guy as good as Gilbert Burns. They might not be too high on this matchup and they are the ones who get to pick the fights.
Michael Chiesa
Sometimes when you want someone to fight you on short notice, you have to give an opportunity to someone a little further down the rankings. Chiesa is ranked 12. He may be ranked a lot lower than Burns, but he is still a crafty vet who is far from done. The TUF 15 winner may be on a 2 fight skid, but he holds wins over some absolute killers. Examples of these are: Beneil Dariush, Neil Magny and Rafael Dos Angos just to name a few.
Chiesa was scheduled to face off against Li Jingliang at UFC 287. But Li had to withdraw from the fight due to injury. So this suggests Chiesa is probably somewhere close to fighting shape.
I think this would be a fun one to watch, especially for the grappling enthusiasts out there. With both guys being among the best the UFC has to offer in their skills when the fight hits the mat.
Kevin Holland
When the UFC has been in real need at Middleweight and Welterweight in recent times, Kevin Holland has been the guy they turn to. Holland is always game for a scrap. He has shown many times he doesn’t mind getting in there with little to no preparation time.
Holland literally just finished Santiago Ponzinibbio at UFC 287 in Miami, but at least from an outside perspective, didn’t seem to sustain too much damage.
Big Mouth himself took to Ariel Hewlani’s MMA hour after his fight and stated that he would like to take on a grappler next. Well if you want to test yourself against a grappler, they don’t come much better than Gilbert Burns.
Kevin might see this potential fight as a bit of a free hit. If he were to take on Gilbert and lose, I don’t think he would lose any stock. But if he were to get his hand raised, he would almost certainly get a single figure ranking number next to his name.
I think that if the UFC are able to get Burns onto the UFC 288 card, Holland is one of the most likely opponents.
Who would you like to see Gilbert Burns take on at UFC 288?
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
