If you had asked Herbert Burns a week before ONE FC: Moment of Truth what he would be doing next Friday night, the answer would probably have been something along the lines of “watching the fights on TV in Singapore.” When Burns’ Evolve MMA teammate Leandro Issa signed with the UFC and a slot to face Koetsu Okazaki became vacant, the Brazilian volunteered to face the former Shooto champion, but they couldn’t agree on a catchweight. It is a measure of the confidence of the BJJ black belt that despite having a solitary MMA win to his name, he was willing to step up and face one of the top bantamweights in Japan at a couple of week’s notice, but he couldn’t get below 140 pounds and Okazaki refused to move up 5 pounds to take the fight. So with those negotiations done and dusted and Josh Alvarez pencilled in to face Okazaki, Burns didn’t have any big plans for that Friday night until Major Overall dropped out five days before the show and an opportunity to take on unbeaten Filipino featherweight Edward Kelly arose.
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Herbert Burns On Stepping Up to Make Successful One FC Debut at Five Day’s Notice – MMA Weekly