While several players in the Packers-Eagles season-opening NFL matchup in São Paulo, Brazil are voicing concerns about their safety, UFC fighter Gilbert Burns is suggesting they calm down.
Those players and their fears have been chronicled extensively here at Bounding Into Sports. But Burns, who was born in Rio de Janeiro and fought in multiple championship bouts in São Paulo, thinks they need to pump the brakes a little bit.
Speaking to TMZ, the 38-year-old mixed martial artist and submission grappler explained that the city is like any other big city – it has its “good, beautiful” parts and it has some not-so-good parts.
But football players, he believes, needn’t be concerned.
“Those guys – all the football players – they look like Brazilians a little bit,” Burns said. “They’re big, they’re strong. So they’re not going to have any problems there. And they’re going to have a lot of fun.”
Gilbert Burns Tells NFL Players Not To Worry About Brazil
Burns went on to suggest that the NFL and players involved in the game in Brazil on September 6th don’t need to worry at all about crime in the city.
“It’s not that crazy,” he told the gossip website. “They make you feel like it. But it’s not that crazy, you know?”
The UFC fighter went on to promote the contest between the Green Bay Packers and the Philadelphia Eagles as a big deal for the country and the league.
“It’s going to be big,” he said. “It’s going to be bigger than people think.”
Burns indicates that the UFC, just like the NFL, has put out security plans to keep athletes safe when competing in Brazil and urged them to stay in their hotels.
But those who didn’t adhere to that policy, he claims, didn’t end up regretting it.
RELATED: Eagles’ Darius Slay Becomes The Latest Player To Blast NFL For Making Them Play In Brazil
Is Brazil More Crime-Infested Than Say, Philadelphia?
While the concern coming from multiple players and coaches on both teams has been heightened as the NFL forces them to play in Brazil, Burns seems to think the crime aspect is being blown out of proportion.
Reports indicate that São Paulo sees a robbery reported every five minutes and a theft every two and a half minutes based on statistics from 2023.
The city’s historical center has also fallen into crime-ridden decay, according to some sources.
But then, so has Philadelphia.
Still, players like Eagles cornerback Darius Slay have suggested their concerns aren’t just for their own safety, but the safety of family members who might be travelling with them.
“Man, it’s like one of them places where they probably won’t even let us leave (the hotel),” Slay said in a video posted on social media. “I told my family do not come down there.”
The NFL denied telling layers that they should stay in their hotel when they get to Brazil, though several reports and comments from players seem to refute this.
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