“I can’t do this anymore” — UFC fighter Gilbert Burns gives emotional farewell inside the cage

It felt like he already knew.

A few minutes later, the longtime UFC welterweight confirmed it himself. After a third-round TKO loss to Mike Malott in Winnipeg, Burns announced his retirement from MMA following a brutal stretch of five straight defeats.

The end came fast against Mike Malott

Burns walked into the Winnipeg main event knowing another loss would raise difficult questions. Mike Malott made sure those questions came fast.

By the third round, Burns was slowing down while Malott kept pushing forward. The Canadian trapped him near the fence, let his hands go, and forced the referee to jump in at the 2:08 mark.

The building erupted for the hometown fighter. Then everything suddenly shifted once Burns took the microphone.

“I can’t do this anymore.”

You could hear people in the arena go quiet.

Back near the cage entrance, members of Burns’ team looked emotional before he had even finished speaking. His wife stood nearby trying to smile through it while Burns spoke with the kind of honesty fighters usually avoid after a loss. No fake toughness. No dramatic speech. Just a veteran who sounded tired of putting his body through wars.

A career built the hard way

Burns leaves the sport with a 22-10 record, but numbers barely explain the kind of career he had.

He fought killers for years.

Kamaru Usman. Khamzat Chimaev. Jorge Masvidal. Neil Magny. Belal Muhammad.

And he never waited around for easy matchups either. Coaches around the sport respected that about him. If the UFC called with a dangerous opponent, Burns usually said yes before the conversation was even over.

That fight with Chimaev still gets brought up constantly by fans because of how reckless and violent it became. Burns got dropped early, fired back immediately, and turned the whole thing into chaos.

That was basically his career in one fight. Neil Magny. Belal Muhammad.

His war with Chimaev at UFC 273 still gets mentioned whenever fans debate the craziest three-round fights in recent UFC history. Even ESPN’s UFC analysts

still reference it regularly when discussing modern welterweight classics.

Burns never fought carefully either.

He marched forward, took risks and trusted his power and grappling against everyone. Training partners used to joke that he sparred like every round was a title fight. That intensity made him dangerous, but probably shortened his prime too.

FSI247 previously covered Burns during his failed title run

and the pressure around his recent skid. The losses piled up quickly in a division that moves faster than almost any other in MMA.

Respect from across the MMA world

The reaction online after the retirement announcement said plenty about Burns’ reputation.

Fighters, coaches and fans flooded social media with respect for the Brazilian veteran. Even UFC President Dana White has repeatedly praised Burns over the years for accepting difficult fights on short notice and staying active while others waited around for rankings.

According to the current UFC welterweight rankings

, the division remains stacked with younger contenders pushing upward. Burns understood that reality better than anyone.

Still, few fighters leave with this kind of respect.

FSI247 also reported on Burns after earlier controversy surrounding his comeback plans, but Saturday night felt different. There was finality in his voice.

The losses mattered.

But what people will remember most is simple: Gilbert Burns never backed away from anybody.