By Chase Smith of FloGrappling

Gilbert Burns is a MONSTER. A black belt world champion both in and out of the gi, "Durinho" holds wins over the likes of Lucas Lepri, JT Torres, Leandro Lo, and many others.

Burns left full-time jiu-jitsu competition in pursuit of an MMA career and has amassed a professional record of 13-2, with seven of those bouts taking place in the UFC (which he signed with in 2014). Thankfully, with the rise of professional jiu-jitsu events such as Submission Underground, Burns hasn't left the grappling arena just yet.  

We recently caught up with the Zenith representative to find out how his training has been going ahead of his match with Jake Shields at SUG 6 in Portland, OR, this Sunday. Read on...

Watch Submission Underground 6 LIVE on FloGrappling 

FloGrappling: What do you enjoy about the Submission Underground Format? 

Burns: I love the format of Submission Underground — as a fan and as a competitor! It’s very entertaining. I like the submission-only rules and overtime scenarios. I’m an MMA fighter as well as a jiu-jitsu athlete, so getting to use the cage in a grappling superfight is also a great benefit for me.

What unique challenges does Jake Shields present to you as an opponent? How do you see yourself overcoming them?

Jake Shields is no joke. The guy has a high-level resume. I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. With that said, the way to beat Jake is to use pressure and impose my game on him. It's that simple. I’m looking forward to war and having my arm raised at the end.

You’re in the UFC: How do you balance your MMA training with grappling?

It is hard to do both. I can't lie. But because I have a good break in between MMA fights, I welcome jiu-jitsu competition. Grappling superfights contribute to my MMA training; to become the UFC champion my jiu-jitsu needs be on point. 

And because I’m of the opinion that the best way to keep my jiu-jitsu firing on the highest level is competition, taking these superfights only helps my ultimate goal of becoming a UFC champion.

Ahead of Submission Underground 6, I joined powers with Fight Sports Miami with [Roberto "Cyborg" Abreu], Vagner Rocha, Enrico Coco, and a bunch of tough guys. I still represent Zenith, but I will be preparing for all my jiu-jitsu and MMA fights with Cyborg and company at Fight Sports. They've been pushing me a lot for this upcoming fight at SUG. 

What are your future plans?

My plan is to keep doing jiu-jitsu superfights, get another UFC fight by the end of January, and as always: get better, continue to improve, and test myself whenever I can.

Watch Submission Underground 6 LIVE Dec. 3, Only On FloGrappling.