On Saturday, Burns competed in a grappling superfight for the BJJ Stars promotion at Clube Hebraica in Sao Paulo, Brazil. One of the main promoters for the event is former UFC Brazil president Giovani Decker.
“Durinho” was supposed to face Benson Henderson in the headliner, but Henderson tested positive for COVID-19 and was replaced by Lucas “Hulk” Barbosa a few days prior to the event.
Burns started well and nearly took Barbosa down, but his opponent countered and ended up in top position. From there, “Hulk” looked to pass the half guard of “Durinho.” In a transition where Burns tried to come up to a single leg from the bottom position, “Hulk” was able to spin to “Durinho’s” back. From there Hulk secured a choke, forcing Durinho to tap.
There’s no shame in defeat for Burns. Barbosa has been one of the top ranked grapplers with multiple world and Pan American titles both in no-gi and with-gi competitions. Currently living in San Diego, “Hulk” trains with professor Andre Galvao at Atos Jiu-Jitsu HQ.
After suffering a TKO loss to Kamaru Usman in a title bout at UFC 258, Burns rebounded with a decision triumph against Stephen Thompson at UFC 264 in July. The Sanford MMA product has won seven of his last eight UFC appearances.