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'Nigerian Nightmare' reigns supreme at UFC 258

ufc14 February 2021 07:17| © Backpage TXT
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It was a dominant performance from the welterweight champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 258 with an impressive third round knockout of Gilbert Burns at the Apex Centre in Las Vegas in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The victory sees the ‘Nigerian Nightmare cement his place as one of the best welterweights of all time with a third defence of his title and a record of 13-0, surpassing Georges St-Pierre for the most consecutive victories in the UFC’s welterweight division.

Despite the win, though, Usman did not have it all his own way on the night. Burns came out strong in the opening round and set the pace with some big right hands and knees on the inside.

It was the same at the start of the second round, but the Nigerian showed his class as he changed things up, switching to southpaw which saw his strong jab put him back in control. The fight was truly swinging Usman’s way at the end of second round when a huge right-hand rocked Burns and put him to the canvas. The Brazilian was lucky to escape the second round.

The start of the third round saw Usman come out southpaw once more and it was a straight right jab that knocked Burns on his bum. The Nigerian Nightmare piled on the pressure thereafter with some vicious ground and pound before the referee stopped the fight 34 seconds into the third round.

Following the fight Usman was full of praise for his former teammate before demanding respect for himself.

“Gilbert is a guy that I've known from the start,” said Usman his post-fight interview. “I love him. This one was tough for me to deal with.

“Guys, you cannot discredit what Gilbert Burns has done in this division. We started together. We started this journey together, and he showed it tonight. He went in there and put it all together.

“I am the best on the planet for a reason. Y'all, everybody else, you better put some f---ing respect on my name. ... I'm here to stay. My fight IQ is different. It's different when you're in the gym with me. But when you get in here, it's a different ballgame. I'm a whole other savage.”

In the co-main event, Alexa Grasso showed some supreme boxing skills as she picked apart Maycee Barber to register a unanimous decision win in her Women’s flyweight contest.

It was only Grasso’s second fight in the flyweight division and she looked impressive as Barber had no answer for her fast hands and quick movement.

“I trained so, so hard since the last fight,” said Grasso after the fight. “I told you, I’ve been working so, so hard. Every fight I want to show you I’m better and better and better.”

The early main card fights saw Kelvin Gastelum secure a decision win over Ian Heinisch in a middleweight contest; Ricky Simon with a decision win as well after seeing off Brian Kelleher in a featherweight bout; and Julian Marquez with a third round submission victory over Maki Pitolo in a middleweight fight.

MAIN CARD RESULTS

- Usman def. Burns by TKO (punches) at 0:34 of Round Three

- Grasso def. Barber by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

- Gastelum def. Heinisch by unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

- Simon def. Kelleher by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

- Marquez def. Pitolo by submission (anaconda choke) at 4:17 of Round Three

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