Midnight Mania! Welterweight Mac Won’t Win, But He’ll Make The Champion Rich!

Welcome to Midnight Mania!

The 15 pound jump between Lightweight and Welterweight is not an easy adjustment to make. One man who knows that better than most is Gilbert Burns, who struggled to find much momentum in the talent-rich Lightweight division while enduring a severe weight cut. “Durinho” eventually jumped up to Welterweight, where he immediately went on a major win streak.

He’s since fought for the title and established himself as a mainstay of the Top Five. Burns may be the exception to the rule, however, and he doubts that Conor McGregor will find similar success against larger opponents. McGregor has revealed he’s targeting a Welterweight title shot, potentially immediately after his Michael Chandler match up, but Burns thinks the only real effect McGregor will have on the division is making somebody a whole lot of money.

“The only thing he can do at 170 is make whoever’s the champion rich,” Burns said (via MMAFighting). “I hope it’s me, but if it’s Leon [Edwards], if it’s Colby [Covington], whoever it is, you’re going to get a lot of money, but I don’t think it’s going to be a hard fight.

“Whenever [McGregor] is committed to training, no whiskey, no crazy stuff, if they lock him up and this guy’s focused on training, he’s very dangerous. But I don’t think that’s the case. But that’s at 155. At 170, it’s a whole different game. We’re all like 190 [pounds], lean, mean, fighting the best guys in the world, and this guy thinks he’s going to jump out of the yacht and beat me, beat one of the top 5 [fighters]? Guaranteed, no way he’s doing that.”

Burns is currently scheduled to face Jorge Masvidal next weekend (Sat., April 8, 2023) at UFC 287, and a win could put him right back into the title mix.

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Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.