Gilbert Burns details taking a golf club to the head before UFC 264

Gilbert Burns took some unnecessary damage ahead of his UFC 264 clash with Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson.

The former welterweight title challenger managed to rebound off his lone career defeat north of 155-pounds, but he had a scare beforehand. Burns shared in a recent interview with MMA Junkie how he managed to shake off taking a golf club straight to the dome.

“I got a cut on my head a week before the fight,” Burns said. “My son was playing golf. He freaking threw the golf club on my head.

“I just finished my strength and conditioning, and at my strength and conditioning place, IHP, they train a lot of golfers, so they have the golf clubs, they have things in there, and I already had plans with the family to go play golf at night. My son never plays. I said, ‘Hey Pedro,’ my oldest, ‘Come here. I’m going to show you how to do it.’

“I’m not a professional, but I know how to play a little bit, and then I showed him, ‘Here is the club. Look, how you hold it. He said, ‘I know, Daddy. I know. Look.’ I said, ‘OK,’ and I backed out. I backed away,” Burns continued. “I was very far away from him, but he swang like a freaking baseball bat, and he turns, and that sh*t came on my head and pow! I was just like, ‘Man,’ and I was just praying, ‘Hopefully it doesn’t bleed. Hopefully, it doesn’t bleed.’ Just looking — there was blood everywhere.”

Gilbert Burns defeated Stephen Thompson in the UFC 264 co-main event via unanimous decision. With his fight prior being a defeat to current champion Kamaru Usman, Burns has since begun angling for a meeting with fan-favorite, Nate Diaz.

Diaz recently suffered a five-round unanimous decision loss to Leon Edwards at UFC 263 in June.