Gilbert Burns Apologizes to Jorge Masvidal for Greasing Accusation

Taking this moment to apologize to @GamebredFighter and his team @mikebrownmma @AmericanTopTeam pic.twitter.com/jNZva97ugO

— GILBERT BURNS DURINHO (@GilbertDurinho) April 11, 2023

Gilbert Burns has walked back his claim that Jorge Masvidal was greasing during their UFC 287 matchup.

At Saturday’s post-fight press conference, “Durinho” said that Masvidal was especially slippery, which made grappling more difficult than usual. He then insinuated that his opponent might have applied lotion multiple times on Saturday before their co-main event bout.

“I know those old tricks those guys do. You know what they do? They wake up on [Saturday] and they take the first shower and they put a lot of lotion on the body,” Burns said at the press conference. “The skin absorbs the lotion, and then after three hours, you do it again, and then after you do it again, and then after you do it again, and your body absorbs. Whenever you start sweating a lot, [the lotion comes out]. For sure he did that, 100 percent he did. I’m telling you.”

Masvidal denied the allegation on ”The MMA Hour” on Monday saying, “I’ve never greased, I’ve never been caught for cheating or anything.” Even if Burns did feel like he was at a disadvantage, it didn’t seem to matter, as he earned a clear-cut unanimous decision triumph in what turned out to be Masvidal’s final MMA bout.

On Tuesday, Burns released a video apologizing for making the claim in the first place.

“I just would like to take a moment to apologize to Jorge ‘Gamebred’ Masvidal and his team at ATT on the things I said after the fight at the press-fight conference at UFC 287,” Burns said. “I said that he passed lotion and this and that, and it was too much. I can’t prove that, and I would like to apologize to send my apologies to Jorge and his team and take everything that I said.

“I hope that he accepts my apologies and I think what I did was wrong. I have no proof that he did that. I want to take nothing away from him. That guy is a warrior, 52 professional fights. I hope that he has a good retirement and I hope he accepts my apology.”