Gilbert Burns will fight Mike Malott in the main event of UFC Fight Night 273 on April 18th in Manitoba, Canada.

Burns is get up there in years now at 39, and his recent results have led to questions about whether he might hang up his gloves soon after suffering four defeats in a row.

To be fair though, the veteran has been facing top-tier talents during that losing slump in Belal Muhammad, Jack Della Maddalena, Sean Brady and most recently Michael Morales.

Still, two of those defeats came via strikes, including a first round TKO loss to Morales last time out, and so while he’s been a stalwart in the division for many years, he is now also fighting against father time.

The 34-year-old Malott arrived from the Contender Series in 2021 and has gone on to compile a 6-1 record in the Octagon.

That includes his current three-fight winning streak, where he’s earned a unanimous decision victory over Trevin Giles, KO’d Charles Radtke and beaten Kevin Holland on the scorecards.

Despite that, Malott is currently unranked at 170lbs, but a win over the No.11 placed Burns would likely change that.

Burns vs. Malott fronts a UFC Fight Night 273 event that’s still in development, but will also include Jasmine Judavicious vs. Karine Silva.