Featherweight Herbert Burns was one of the big names to arise from the black belt division at last Saturday’s No-Gi Brazilian Nationals, beating three opponents without so much as a point scored against him. The younger brother of lightweight world champion Gilbert “Durinho”, Burns spoke with GRACIEMAG.com and addressed how training is going and what he learned at the Brazilian Nationals.
“I did all my conditioning work at Associação Oriente and was feeling great. In the three matches I was in, the first I was winning 9-0 when I got back mount and finished with a rear-naked choke; in the semifinal I got the taoput with an arm triangle; and in the final [against André Luis Siqueira], I got the takedown, passed, mounted, got back mount and still finished with a rear-naked choke. I had an excellent campaign; I had three matches and got three submissions without dropping a point or advantage point,” he recollects, trying to ignore the pressure of having a world champion brother.
Photo: Gustavo Aragão
“Well, there is that pressure, because of everything Durinho has won and what he represents in Jiu-Jitsu these days. I feel people are always demanding more of themselves, but I try to deal with that as best I can. And there’s the good side, because my brother has opened a lot of doors for me in Jiu-Jitsu,” he says sincerely.
But the brothers haven’t been seeing each other as often as they used to. Blame it on success, of course.
“With so many commitments we don’t get to train with each other like we used to, since he’s been mostly in Las Vegas with Vitor Belfort, and I’ve been teaching class in Singapore. But we swap information and get to train together whenever we have free time,” says Herbert, who’s already on to his next plan.
“I have a six-MMA-fight contract with OneFC. I was going to fight in January but it was postponed till February, in Jakarta, Indonesia. So I’ll try and get back to Singapore to teach Jiu-Jitsu and train boxing and Thai boxing. Now, my focus is on my MMA debut, but I’ll compete in Jiu-Jitsu whenever I get the time,” he says in closing.
