Gerard Burns hasn\u2019t been obsessed with fighting Muhammad Mokaev, but he\u2019s definitely had the former UFC flyweight on his radar since before he turned pro.<\/p>\n
Now 7-1 in his career, and competing for the BRAVE CF flyweight title on Friday, the Irish fighter wasn\u2019t even sure MMA was going to be his career when he first saw Mokaev compete as an amateur. Once he decided that fighting was all he wanted to do, Burns kept an eye on Mokaev with hopes that they would eventually meet in the cage and now his wish has been granted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been in this game long, maybe six or seven years,\u201d Burns told MMA Fighting. \u201cFrom a long time ago, Mokaev was a big prospect coming up in the amateur scene. He was dominating in the amateurs, the IMMAF, and then winning world titles. So when I was starting this game, he was one of the best people I could find online. He was a big milestone that I set to be able to get to that level when I decided to do it, and I was going to give everything for mixed martial arts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt got closer and closer when one of my teammates fought him and one of my sparring partners fought him. I only had two amateur fights at the time. It was back then I was like I can actually get to this guy\u2019s level and smash him. I truly believed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mokaev enters the fight with an undefeated record after being touted as one of the best prospects to ever compete in the flyweight division.<\/p>\n
That said, the 25-year-old Dagestani-born fighter has also endured a tumultuous run in his career after he moved to 7-0 in his UFC career, but the promotion opted not to re-sign him to a new contract. UFC CEO Dana White later claimed that the company\u2019s matchmakers had issues dealing with Mokaev, although he\u2019s denied being some kind of problem child.<\/p>\n
Burns has another theory entirely on why Mokaev is no longer competing in the UFC.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a good, classy fighter, don\u2019t get me wrong, he\u2019s a winner,\u201d Burns said. \u201cHis record speaks for itself. He knows how to win fights. He\u2019s obviously been sacked from the UFC for being a very boring fighter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s been in many fights, to be totally honest. He\u2019s been in plenty of martial arts competitions, matches but he\u2019s never been in a fight. He\u2019s going to be in a fight on Friday night, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burns believes he\u2019s got everything in his arsenal to force Mokaev into a fire fight and that\u2019s where he plans to take over.<\/p>\n
While he acknowledges that Mokaev\u2019s wrestling and grappling have always been his best weapons, Burns promises he\u2019s going to try to hurt him in every position, no matter where this fight takes place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve got all the tools that it\u2019s going to be his worst nightmare,\u201d Burns said. \u201cHis style is not going to be able to handle it. I don\u2019t just think that, I know it. Friday night we\u2019ll see what happens. It will soon be revealed. He\u2019s a good wrestler. He\u2019s decent at striking. He doesn\u2019t do enough of it. It seems like he gets hit or he gets tired and he goes back to what he knows and that\u2019s wrestling and slowing the fights down and stealing the rounds. He\u2019s definitely not going to be able to do that to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m prepared for everything going into this fight. I\u2019m just a nightmare for him wherever it is. Whether it\u2019s on the feet. Whether he\u2019s shooting into one of my knees. Whether he\u2019s in my guard eating my elbows. I\u2019m just totally prepared all-around. I\u2019m focusing on my game. Wherever it ends up, I\u2019m prepared. I don\u2019t care what he does.\u201d<\/p>\n
Considering he\u2019s only been fighting professionally for three years, Burns knows he\u2019s made a fast rise up the ranks but he\u2019s not looking at Mokaev as reaching the pinnacle of the sport just yet.<\/p>\n
Instead, Burns looks at becoming BRAVE flyweight champion as a proud addition to his resume and hopefully just the first of many titles to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means a lot to me,\u201d Burns said. \u201cIt\u2019s a massive milestone. I mentioned I just started this game in 2019 and my biggest goal back then was just to get fit and healthy. Now here we are six years later fighting for a BRAVE world title.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s something that I\u2019ve always wanted to fight for. I\u2019ve always wanted to fight for a BRAVE world title and now we\u2019re here. It does mean so much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gerard Burns hasn\u2019t been obsessed with fighting Muhammad Mokaev, but he\u2019s definitely had the former UFC flyweight on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":266709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,701,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-266708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-latest-news","12":"tag-mma","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}