The Gian burger at Sal's Place in North Massapequa.

The Gian burger at Sal's Place in North Massapequa. Credit: Newsday

UFC light heavyweight Gian Villante is a piece of meat, emphasis on the light.

See, there's this restaurant on Hicksville Road in North Massapequa. It's called Sal's Place.  At this restaurant, there's a burger menu. At the bottom of that burger menu, there's this: "Gian burger."

Yes, Villante has a burger named after him. Rather impressive for the 27-year-old MMA fighter with a 10-3 record who makes his UFC debut this Saturday at UFC 159 in Newark.

Villante wrestled and played football at MacArthur High School in the early 2000s. Sal's Place owner Salvatore Carrillo also used to wrestle at the high school in Levittown.

The half-pound Gian burger consists of fresh ground turkey mixed with bell peppers, onion and yogurt. It comes with lettuce, tomato, pesto mayo and cheese, just a few jalapeno peppers to "add a kick," as the menu says. The menu also includes a fighter throwing a leg kick at another fighter as the icon for the burger, which is slightly different from the high school logos used to identify the other named burgers on the menu.

Oh, by the way, the turkey burger tastes quite delightful. (The fries are compelling, as well.)

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