Gilbert “Durinho” Burns

Gilbert Alexander Pontes Burns was born on July 20, 1986, in Niterói, a city across the bay from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He started jiu-jitsu at 12 with his brothers Frederick and Herbert, under coach Luiz Carlos. The first classes came from a trade: his father, an upholsterer, did a job on the coach’s car, and the coach began teaching the three boys.

Two years later, Ramon Lemos took over the group. He took his students to train at Nova União, André Pederneiras’s team in Rio, and at Associação Oriente in Niterói, with Max Câmara and Rafael “Fofitio” Barros. The nickname comes from Nova União: Vitor “Shaolin” Ribeiro called Frederick, the oldest brother, “Todo Duro” (“tough guy”), so Gilbert, the younger one, became “Durinho” (“little tough guy”).

As a brown belt he took silver at the IBJJF Worlds in 2006 and 2007 and silver at the Brazilian Nationals in 2007. After the 2007 Worlds he received his black belt from Rafael “Fofitio” Barros. That same year he moved to Rio Claro, in the state of São Paulo, to train with Ramon Lemos. He competed for Brasa and then for Atos, the team Lemos founded with André Galvão.

In 2009 he reached the lightweight final at the Worlds, his first as a black belt, and took silver after losing to Michael Langhi. 2010 was his biggest year for titles: gold at the World Pro in Abu Dhabi, beating Claudio Mattos in the final; gold at the Brazilian Nationals, in a final against JT Torres; and gold at the No-Gi Worlds at middleweight. At the gi Worlds that year he took bronze, stopped again by Langhi, this time in the semifinal.

The gi world title came in 2011, in California. Burns beat Lucas Lepri in the quarterfinal and JT Torres in the semifinal, then beat Kron Gracie 9-2 in the final. In October of that year he left Atos, and in January 2012 he had his first MMA fight.

He kept competing in grappling during his MMA career. He won the No-Gi Worlds for the second time in 2013, beating Leandro Lo in the semifinal and Vitor Oliveira in the final, and took bronze at ADCC 2015, in São Paulo, in the under 77 kg (170 lb) division. He also had superfights at events like Polaris, Submission Underground and Who’s Number One, where he beat Rafael Lovato Jr. by decision in 2021.

In MMA, Burns became one of the UFC’s biggest names. He fought for the promotion from 2014 to 2026, challenged Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title in February 2021, and beat fighters such as Tyron Woodley, Demian Maia, Stephen Thompson and Jorge Masvidal. Nine of his 22 career wins came by submission. He announced his retirement from MMA on April 18, 2026, after his fight with Mike Malott in Winnipeg.

Less than a month later he signed with UFC BJJ, the UFC’s jiu-jitsu league. He debuted on June 4, 2026, at UFC BJJ 9 in Las Vegas, and submitted Horlando Monteiro with a rear-naked choke in 1 minute and 22 seconds. His second match in the league was set for October 8, 2026, at UFC BJJ 12, against Gabriel Almeida at middleweight.