UFC welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, retained his title with a third round knockout win over challenger, Gilbert Burns, in UFC 258 in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The win is Usman’s third title defence after previously dispatching Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Burns came out fast and hard, raining powerful shots and clipping the champion to put Usman on his defensive edge. The Brazilian tried to follow up and did connect with several heavy strikes, but Usman weathered the storm and survived an opening round that tilted strongly in favour of the challenger.
Usman established a piston-like jab in the second round and the punch quickly became a difference-maker in the fight. With Burns unable to close the distance consistently, Usman took over the fight behind the straight shots from his lead hand. The jab then opened up a huge right hand from Usman that shook Burns’ legs.
The champion was patient, continuing to land big strikes but not going all out for the finish in the round. Instead, the finish came just 34 seconds into Round 3, when Usman dropped Burns with a straight right hand and followed up with several damaging shots to the face and body, leaving the challenger bloodied as the referee called the fight in his favour.
The win put an end to Burns’ six-fight winning streak while Usman goes 13-0 in the UFC, the longest winning streak in the welterweight division history.
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