Herbert Burns says knee gave out in UFC on ABC 3 loss: 'I couldn't fight properly'

Herbert Burns’s return to the octagon didn’t go as planned.

The UFC featherweight suffered a TKO loss to Bill Algeo on the preliminary card of UFC on ABC 3 when he couldn’t get up from the canvas. The event went down on Saturday night in Elmont, N.Y.

Burns (11-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) started hot and looked to be close to finishing the fight early when he locked up a tight, triangle choke on Algeo in the first round. But Algeo got out of the submission and drastically turned the tide on a fading Burns until he eventually got the TKO win.

The Brazilian said after the event he suffered a knee injury in the fight, which is why he wasn’t able to finish his submission.

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t the result I was looking for,” Burns said on Instagram. “My knee gave out. It was not stable, and I couldn’t continue fighting. I couldn’t finish the triangle and couldn’t perform the way I wanted to, but I’ll be back. I don’t know what’s going to happen now – maybe another surgery. We’ll see. I’ll keep you guys updated.”

Sunday, Burns posted another update saying he expects to have surgery on his right knee. The Brazilian remains optimistic and vows to come back stronger.

“It’s just tough – it’s just really tough,” Burns said. “I put so much work into this fight. I sacrificed so many things, and man, I really tried. In the first takedown, the knee popped again, and I couldn’t squeeze the triangle. I couldn’t fight properly. It pains me. I feel gutted, but you have to accept it. You can’t fight that. … I’ll be back soon, much better and much stronger. This won’t stop me. You see Dominick Cruz, Ronaldo, those guys came back from two or three knee surgeries. I’ll be one of those guys.”

Burns is currently on a two-fight skid. This string of defeats snaps a five-fight unbeaten run that extended from 2018 to 2020.