Jorge Masvidal has threatened to "kill" Gilbert Burns when he makes his Octagon return against the Brazilian at UFC 287 this April after over a year out of action.
The former world title contenders will meet at a venue that remains undecided, with Masvidal a sizeable underdog. Burns' most recent outing was a first-round win over Neil Magny at UFC 283 in Rio de Janeiro earlier in January after his own lengthy spell out of action.
Masvidal, meanwhile, is raring to go for his comeback after a tumultuous spell during which nemesis Colby Covington handed him his third consecutive defeat. The two-time title contender faces another tough test in Burns, who is ranked at No.5, six places higher than he is.
During a recent interview on The MMA Hour, Masvidal sent the brutal warning to his rival, saying: "Gilbert, bro, I know you're going to see this. It's nothing personal, but I'm just trying to kill you, bro. It's nothing personal; I actually like you, bro. I'll shake your hand give you a hug even and after the fight, I'll take you to lunch, maybe.
"But in that cage, I'm trying to kill you, I'm literally putting everything I have got in me to kill this individual. And I know he had that same mentality because we don't come from the same place but we come from similar places where we didn't have a lot and we don't ever want to go back there.
"We've got that hunger cell in us, that little bit of trauma in us so I want to finish a motherf***er. I want to end you, bro, so there's no coming back and saying you kept fighting. I want to end Gilbert's a**, I want to murk him."
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Masvidal hasn't won since a 2019 showdown with Nate Diaz, where he was presented with his own custom 'BMF title' at Madison Square Garden. He had two shots at Kamaru Usman for the welterweight title and with just one win could earn himself another title bout if Leon Edwards, another great rival of his, retains his belt in London this March.
"I actually like Gilbert," Masvidal added. "Somebody tells me Gilbert is fighting, I’ll sit down and watch that motherf***er on my phone. He comes to fight. I remember when Gilbert came in and was just a jiu-jitsu guy, hugging people, he was like nervous, then he came up to 170 and started laying people out. He’s a great fighter and I think he’s going to be a great fighter for a while, even after me.
"But on April 8, I’m going to clean his clock. On April 8, I’m going to beat the brakes off of that dude. He’s going to pull up to the drive-thru, and you know what, he’s going to get the same thing that Leon’s going to get after I get to Gilbert."
