Gabriel Almeida submitted Gilbert Burns with a heel hook at 4:34 of Round 1 at UFC BJJ 12 on Thursday night at the Meta Apex in Las Vegas. Almeida, the 2020 IBJJF American National No-Gi champion, locked it in with just under 30 seconds left in the opening round. UFC BJJ’s own social account called it a “Heel hook from HELL,” and Bloody Elbow noted Burns was grimacing in pain as he tapped.
Burns didn’t hide from it. A few hours after the match he posted on X: “Humbled on winning or defeat shoutout to my opponent, be back better real soon!” No excuses, no complaints about the format, just credit to the guy who beat him and a promise to return.
The result stings more given who Burns is on the mats. The 40-year-old is an IBJJF world champion in both gi and no-gi, and he also holds CBJJ Brazilian and UAEJJF World Pro titles plus an ADCC medal, per Bloody Elbow. MMA Mania’s Anton Tabuena described him as a 3-time IBJJF world champ returning to his grappling roots. This was his second match under the UFC BJJ banner.
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How Burns got here
Burns walked away from MMA earlier this year after Mike Malott knocked him out in the main event of UFC Winnipeg. Before that, Michael Morales had stopped him in the first round, part of the run of three straight first-round knockouts (Sean Brady, Burns, Neil Magny) that has Morales sitting at 19-0 and waiting on a big welterweight booking.
Retirement didn’t mean sitting still. Burns has competed three times since leaving the cage. In June he submitted Horlando Monteiro at UFC BJJ, which ended a five-fight losing skid across combat sports and gave him his first win since 2023. In September he took a tech fall loss to Khamzat Chimaev in Real American Freestyle, five years after the two went three hard rounds in the UFC. Thursday’s loss to Almeida makes it two defeats in a row.
Chimaev, for what it’s worth, is still dragging Burns into his own feud. Colby Covington, who defends his RAF cruiserweight title against Chimaev on Nov. 14 in Abu Dhabi, said on “The Ariel Helwani Show” that Chimaev “got taken down by a jiu-jitsu artist in Gilbert Burns” in their UFC fight, which Covington offered as evidence that Chimaev struggles when things get hard.
No date or opponent has been announced for Burns’ next match.
The rest of UFC BJJ 12 was busy. Cassia Moura became the promotion’s first two-division champion with a split decision over Adele Fornarino for the inaugural flyweight title, a verdict MMA Mania called controversial after Fornarino hit multiple deep leg locks in the first round and still got a 10-9. Renato Canuto dropped to lightweight and won a decision over Ethen Crelinsten for gold. Thaynara Victoria and Landon Elmore both won in the first round.
My take: a gi world title from years ago is a résumé line, and the modern no-gi leg game punishes anyone who doesn’t live in it every day. Almeida found the heel hook in the final half minute of a round, which is exactly when a tired 40-year-old’s guard against entries gets a little lazy. Burns handled the loss like a pro. If he wants “better real soon” to mean something, the next camp has to be about heel hook defense, because the UFC BJJ matchmakers just saw the same footage I did. And the judges who scored Fornarino’s first round 10-9 should watch it again too.