Gilbert Burns Tapped by Heel Hook in First UFC BJJ Loss

Gilbert Burns picked up his first blemish on the UFC BJJ mats Thursday night in Las Vegas, surrendering to a first-round heel hook from fellow Brazilian Gabriel Almeida. It drops the retired welterweight to 1-1 under the grappling banner after he'd opened with a rear-naked choke win over Horlando Monteiro back in June.

This was a busy stretch for "Durinho." The Almeida match came less than a month after he dropped a tech-fall decision to Khamzat Chimaev under wrestling rules at RAF, so Burns has now tested himself across two different grappling rulesets in short order — with mixed results.

The match itself followed a familiar Burns script early. He shot in for a takedown, slipped out of a guillotine attempt from Almeida, and worked to the top position. The problem: he couldn't turn that control into anything meaningful.

Almeida flipped the story in the back half of the round. He scrambled to top, threatened the neck first, then transitioned down to the legs. Burns defended as long as he could, but Almeida locked up the heel hook and forced the tap.

The Bigger Night

Burns' loss was undercard business on a card built around two title fights. Cassia Moura held onto the flyweight strap with a split decision over Adele Fornarino, while Renato Canuto claimed the vacant lightweight belt with a unanimous nod over Ethan Crelinsten in the co-main.

For Burns, the submission grappling circuit has been a second act since hanging up the four-ounce gloves, and nights like this are the cost of staying active against specialists. One win, one quick loss — the sample size is small, but the leg-lock game clearly remains a live threat for a career wrestler-boxer like him.