We are joined by the one and only Gilbert D'Ariño Burns. Or is it El D'Ariño?

El D'Ariño.

What's up, brother? How are you?

I'm good. How are you guys doing?

Good, man. Good. Obviously, getting ready for UFC 287. Joaquim Masvidal, Massify. How's it all going?

Doing good. Training came very tough. This is going to be the hardest week. And then next week you're going to slow it down a little bit. But today I had a great story. Eah, feeling good. You're feeling very good about it.

Gilbert.

You've.

Been in a lot of fights, but this one feels bigger. You know what I mean? Do you feel the difference in the magnitude of this fight just because it is Masvidal and he is a superstar? Obviously, you've been in there with Kamaro and Hamza and you've been in big fights, but does this one feel different?

I think I'm going to feel it. I didn't feel it yet. I think five week I'm going to feel a little bit more. But it came in a great time. I just finished one camp, took a little time off and got back to another camp. I think that's the best. And then staying healthy, staying good, it helped me. But it didn't feel like a big fight. I think a fight we can win a few. Right now, I just feel like every other fight. And this is going to be my number 20 fight in the UFC. So that's a big deal. It's a big one.

Obviously, last time out, you got the arm triangle over Neil Magnet. Round one, took hardly any damage. What a performance that was. And by the way, congratulations. It was so technical. You did the right thing. You waited and waited and waited on the outside. And then when the time was right, you explode. He took him down and got the submissions of Congrats. Joaquin Masvidal, right? Tell me about the challenges that he possesses for you. How do you feel about the guy? What is your relationship? All that good stuff.

No, you're okay. I respect him. He respects me in the same way. But I think he's a gamer. He's a guy I had to break down a lot of his videos to watch over and over again. And he did a great job. Even with Kobe. Kobe had a hard time taking down, especially in the beginning. He has a very good take down defense, overrated on the way I see. He defends very good and he can grab with his back against the floor. If he does get take it down, he can grab with you. Very tricky with the striking. Do both stance very good. Hits hard, good boxing, good kicks, good knees, elbows. He's a veteran. 51 fights. And I think now with Leon beating Kamalile, he get extra motivation. The last three weeks that we have, two weeks, two training weeks and then five weeks. I think he get a little bit more motivated come to the fight. And I like it because I want to everything goes good. I don't want people saying, Oh, he beat a guy that he's on his way out, the guy that is loose. No, I want a motivated guy.

I want a guy that, Oh, see, Gilbert was in danger, but he put on this guy. That's why I want people saying. But I think he's very dangerous. Danger is everywhere, well rounded. I think the weakness might be the cardio. Sometimes you can see after a couple of fights, he put the arms up, deep breath. That's the only thing. But for sure, a little bit grappling and wrestling. But I think overall, he's a well rounded guy and I'm excited for this fight.

Do you think you get a finish? Before the Magnite fight, you talked about wanting to get finishes and be impressive and have these breakout moments instead of just going in and dominating people because you're trying to work your way back to a title fight and you want impressive wins. Do you see yourself getting a finish over a guy that is so crafty and a veteran and been in there with the best guys. He's been around forever. He's really good at staying safe.

Yeah, that's going to be the challenge. That's what I've been doing the whole freaking training camp. One thing is you go to a practice and get by and just finish your practice good. And another thing is you put in pressure. You put in the temple, you put in a lot of pressure. That's what I've been doing. And I think I'm going to get a finish. I think that's my goal. I don't want to just be mass without unanimous. I have nightmares with that. After the fight, freaking, he and Bruce, the buff of voice. By unanimous decision, I don't want that. I don't want a final finish. I want to buy K. O, T. K. O, submission. I want to finish this. I don't want the decision decision. If it goes to a decision, I'd be very disappointed in myself. I want to finish this guy.

This is like a home... Obviously, you're Brazilian, but this is like a home match for both of you. In Miami, you're from... Where do you live? Is it Boca Raton?

Boca Raton, yeah.

He's actually in Miami. So there's going to be a lot of support for both of you there. So the atmosphere is going to be incredible. I've got one question for you. Can we take the hat off and see the Afro. Let's see it.

That's the most dangerous Gilbert Burns.

Out there. He's got me.

I'm going, it's a hometown match up. Talking about my company, I've got one question. Take the hat off. We went to Twitter and the amount of people on there were saying that the hat is fire. They love it, and all the rest of it. Looking good, brother. Looking good, feeling good, I'm assuming.

Thank you. Yeah, feeling good. I got to give that to George. It's a little bit more his house. He's growing up here in Miami, born and raised here, fought in those crazy fights that we see back in the days in the backyard was here. I think the crowd might boo and me and little bit. I got that. I don't care. But even with the Leon fight, remember I was right. Unfortunately, because they were coming hard to win, I was right. I said, Leon is going to win. All that going to affect. I don't think he's going to look good. And I was right on point. Remember when we talked about it? What did.

You think of that fight?

I think Leon fought very smart. I knew Lucas was here, the house was watching. And then I said, bro, I think Liam going to kick so much in this fight. He's going to try to stay relaxed, control a little bit more the distance. Maybe circle for Kamara Kami, try to work the way up, block the take downs. But I think he's going to kick so much. And then after the fight, I said, I told you, bro, that's what I thought. Those guys are very smart. And I think Kamara felt a little bit of pressure. He felt too much worried about that kick. The hand was there the whole time. So when your hands are up, very hard to block body kicks. It's very hard to do a good thing, to go to a show whenever your hand is too much here. Very hard to get it going. Then I think Kamara fain t wasn't there. You can see after one knee, he stopped fainting, he stopped moving. I think it was too quick for Kamara to fight back for the title. He should take a little bit more time, mentally accept that you lost and get the hungry back and fight very hungry and put a pressure.

But I think that I think Kamara did it for his best and Leon for his very best.

Gilbert, I got two questions here. When you watched Leon and Kamara fight, you said you think that probably motivated Masf duell because obviously the Uspen fight is probably not one he's going to get again if Uspen retains the title. But because he's already been beaten twice. Did you get a sense of a little bit extra motivation because it is a fresh champion? It's a new guy that you haven't fought. It's always easier to get the first match up than a rematch. How did you feel watching Leon get the win?

To be completely honest, it didn't matter so much. I was happy for Leo. Guy's been freaking working very hard. We can see COVID, Hamza can't sell this and that. We pulled the guy out of the rankings. I respect that he keep hustling, keep fighting, and he got a win. But I felt a little bit for Kamara, such a dominate champion, and go out of that way through the losing streak. So but it didn't change so much, to be honest. I think you got to do what you got to do. You got to keep finishing these guys. I'm going to show up. I don't think I have then and white privilege, so I got to work very hard and try to get a finish. And another thing, too, I think they don't say my name so much. And then I like it to be the dark horse. I like to be the guy that people know I'm talking. And that motivates me more than Leon and Wendy. But the people that they say too much about Kobe right now and maybe a little bit of Bilal Mohamed, a little bit of Shaq, I like it. They don't say my name.

April eighth, I'll just want to put a lot of pressure on this guy, make a finish. And then they're going to give a little bit reminder for these guys. That motivates me more than changing the champion and everything. Even the fact of Leung saying, if George wins, he's next. And then if Bird wins, we'll see. What do you mean? I'm not here to judge. No one, you do whatever you want as a champion. You need to make the most of it. You got to make it good money. You got to get big fights. I get it. But I got to remind people April 8.

Well, that.

Leads me right into the next one. When Dana, the presser says, no matter what, Kobe gets the next title shot. There's other big matchups coming. Obviously, your fight with George is huge. I think that's got a lot of title fight implications going into that. And then Kobe comes from the back, from behind the curtain, weighs in and then just fucks everything up for everybody. Be honest, did that genuinely bother you a little bit? Or you just just grind it and saying, fuck it, just worry about yourself?

To be honest, I got to keep it up. This guy is fucking smart. That's what I saw. Man, this guy is so smart. He came out of nowhere because March fifth, he made it one year that he fought Masvidal. That was March fifth last year. And that was just about me. If that guy doesn't fight, they're going to kick him out of the ranks. And I don't know where that guy's coming away and then I said, Man, this freaking guy is coming away. He's just, man, this freaking guy. So smart. I got to give it to him. He was just like, Man, I think he's a great fighter. I don't want to... I decided and I'm not doing... I'm not pushing no one down to raise myself up. I'm not going to talk shit about this guy. But I got to give it up to Kobe. He's freaking smart. This guy doing good decisions. I got to give it up to him. Then we'll see now. Now the pressure is on Dana. He's in the UFC. He's on Liam. Let's see. I have an opportunity to make these guys change the decisions. I got to go out there, be so impressive that people, oh, shit.

It might be Bernstein right now. And I'm going to take that. But he's freaking smart. I got to give it out to Kobe. That was the the best decision you could have ever had.

Obviously, as a welterweight contender, one of the biggest names. When you see Leon defend the belt like that, so it's done with Kamara for now. I'm not saying he can't come back, but Leon and Kamara that's over. And now it's time for Leon to see if he can defend against all the other contenders. Does that excite you? Does that give you... I can feel it. I can feel the title fight. I beat Mas Vidal, of course, there's Kobe, but all you contenders now, do you see it as a new lease of life in the welterweight division?

Yes. I think Kamara is going to take a big time off right now. He should rest a little big guy. I don't know how he keep fighting. He had so many injuries. I think Leon has a couple of options now. There's a lot of if, that's the only thing. If Belao fight, Sean got that, he passed by a little bit. If Kobe fight, he's a lot of if. And I have the opportunity to go out there and put doubts on Dana's mind like, Oh, shit. I think we're going to put burdens first. So that's what I'm thinking. And I don't mind. Sometimes it doesn't come in our way. You guys know more than everybody. Sometimes you got to hustle extra, a little bit extra. Sometimes it's maybe one more fight, sometimes it's two more fight. I'm going to try to establish myself as the next contender, next title fight on my next fight. But I might go out there and beat the shit out of Magic Down and they still not give it to me. So it is what it is. So sometimes it doesn't go. But I have a chance to put it down on those guys' money.

That's exactly what I'm going to do.

What happens, and this is a hypothetical situation, let's just say Leon fights Colby. Leon beats Colby, International Fire Week. Leon's still the champion. Couple of months later, Conor McGregor knocks out Michael Chandler, and they make Conor McGregor versus Leon Edwards. What do you say then, Gilbert? Shit. I'm kidding. That's a real question.

That can't happen. That literally can't happen. Or the opposite or Kobe beats Leo and Kobe fights Conor McGregor. Yeah, it can't happen. I don't know. Then I got to shit. Give me Bilal Mohamed, give me the next guy. Give me the next guy. I got to just keep... I'm not going to stop and wait. That's the only thing that I can say right now. I'm not just going to... Let's say I'm the number one contender right now. I'm not just going to sit down and wait. I think I got to stay active. It's just the way I feel better. It's just the way I feel alive. I got to be competing. We'll see. I hope that doesn't happen. But if it happens, I'm going to keep fighting.

No, I know. It's a stupid question, but you never know because it could happen. We went to Twitter. I'm going to throw a few quick Twitter questions at you, then we'll let you go because I know you're very busy. You've got training and things. And we appreciate your time, Gilbert. Thank you. First question here is odd smoker Steve, what's his favourite local restaurant in Miami? Papy Steakhouse?

No, I have a couple of Brazilian place over here, very good. I like the one is like 10 minutes from the house, be kinder Mexican Brazil, very good here. That's my favorite one. Local, super quick, great food, fresh. That's my local favorite one.

What is a good Brazilian dish? Because obviously I've had the churrascaria, but what is a good traditional Brazilian dish? It's not just meat.

No, we have a bunch of different ones. We have most of the meat, to be honest, is rice and beans. We do the yucca flour farofa. We do salad and we do meat. But we have so many. We have polenta. You know polenta? I don't think you've ever seen this one, the yellow one that we have.

You know what that is, Anthony? Polenta? I don't know.

Yeah. No.

It's like... I've heard of it. I think I've had it. It can go two ways. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Anthony, do you know?

The polenta is like it's coming from a flour that you can make it sweet or you can make it or you can make it like salt. It's just like a oatmeal but not a different flour. But it's very Brazilian. We make a polenta and then we put a little meat on it. That's a very good one. My wife does very good.

How do you feel about Anthony fighting Johnny Walker, one of your very good... He's a Brazilian. How do you feel about this?

You're fighting Johnny Walker for sure. I'm not even doing a teche. Nice. That is a crazy fight. That guy is a horse. You got to watch out because on the beginning he's going to... It's going to It's going to be crazy. He's low it down a lot after the first round. So you got to watch out in that first round. That's a good fight.

How's his Jutsu?

I don't think he's a high level. I don't think. I think for sure he can grab a little, but I don't think he's the highest level, I think.

I didn't think so.

Very strong. I heard very strong, but I think whenever you're too strong, the card goes down a little bit. It's harder when the guy is even when the guy has not too strong, but a lot of card, but I think he's the opposite. He's very strong.

Someone says here.

On Twitter. We're going to bring him to Denver. Gilbert's going to come to Denver. You should come to Denver. Come do.

Some training. I want you. I want you. I want to.

Go to Denver. You know it's cold in Denver, right?

Yeah, I don't like cold.

Exactly.

No way. No way.

Someone here on Twitter, girl, but they said his wife, your wife, his wife instructed him strictly to take the easier approach, take down and submit and not have wars like he did with Hamza. Is that true?

Yes.

Oh, she did?

She did say that on the new Magnate fight because she's right here. She's not listening to you. That's a good thing, at least I would have had fun. But she said, before the fight, the day of the fight, I want to take New Magnate down, but not instantly, not right away. Not like D aniel Meyer style, not like Hamza style. I want to feel that guy a little bit. And then but then before Liv, she was going to the arena before me. So I was in my room just rest and a little bit, got all my things ready. And then before the fight, she came in, Hey, I don't want you to go crazy and bang with this guy. Take him down and submit him. It's going to be easy. And then I'm like, All right, promise me. And then she said, No, I'm not promising you. You promised me. And then, shit, okay, I promise you. And then at the fight, that is the craziest thing because at the fight, I was feeling the distance. I was getting ready. And then I said, okay, I can't see. I'm going to throw a right-hand, maybe one, one, two.

I was seeing the combination. And then I just remembered, I just remembered myself like, Oh, you saying your prophecy. This guy down there. In the middle of the fight, like, shit, okay, I'm going to throw a right-hand. I'm going to throw a right-hand. And if it happens, I go to a body lock. And that's exactly what I did. But I wasn't looking for that in the beginning. I was like, I want to fight a little bit. They come with a hard one, too. Now, move. But then I said, You know what? Let me throw a right-hand. If I miss it, go to a body lock. And that's exactly what I did.

That's the power of your wives. They'll change your whole life. You're like, Oh, maybe I'll knock him out, but then I'm going to get my ass chewed when I.

Get home. You leave the fighting to me, okay? Yes. You cook the dinner, clean the clothes, shut the hell up. I'm joking, of course. Gilbert, we'll let you go, brother. Really, really looking forward to your fight. It's a huge fight. You and Maz Vidal can't wait for it. All the best. Enjoy the last couple of weeks' preparation and thank you for your time.

Thank you guys. Thanks for having me.

Let's go. Yeah, take care, man. Good luck. Middle way champions.