UFC President Dana White believes that Gilbert Burns vs. Stephen Thompson left a lot to be desired.
Burns and Thompson shared the Octagon on the main card of UFC 264. The welterweight bout served as the co-main event. The fight had its moments in the striking department but Burns’ grappling proved to be the difference. He ended up winning the fight via unanimous decision.
During the post-fight press conference, White said he wasn’t exactly impressed by Burns’ performance (via Aaron Bronsteter).
“He won… It wasn’t a good fight, but he won.”
As far as who could be next for Burns, Dana White believes Leon Edwards and Jorge Masvidal are possibilities.
“Edwards and Masvidal make more sense than Nate does, but right here right now, it’s the last thing that I think about.”
Regardless of how White feels about the performance, it’s a bounce back win for Burns, who was coming off a TKO loss against UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman.
As for Thompson, his hopes of receiving another UFC title opportunity appear to be bleek at this point. “Wonderboy” is 38 years old and has gone 2-3 in his last five outings.
Burns had said in the post-fight interview that he’s ready to fight the likes of Masvidal and Diaz. Both men are coming off losses with Masvidal suffering a KO loss to Usman and Diaz being outscored by Leon Edwards in a unanimous decision loss.
With the victory, Burns will likely retain his number two spot on the official UFC Welterweight rankings.
