What do you do when your country fellow can’t compete? You step up for them. Similar is what Gilbert is doing for his fellow Brazilian, Thiago Alves.
Last week Thaigo made it public that he would be withdrawing from the event due to kidney stones infection.
Burns previously competed at 155 pounds and this will be his second straight welterweight appearance. ‘Durinho’ defeated Alexey Kunchenko at UFC Uruguay in August, a bout that burn also took on short notice. Overall Burns has proven to be a competent fighter since he won 3 straight fights and 5 of his 6 last fights till now. Burns taking up for Thiago saves what will be Nelson’s second fight of 2019. Also, Nelson was coming off a split decision loss to Leon Edwards at UFC London in March.
