Boxing News: Kamaru Usman Stops Gilbert Burns To Retain Welterweight Title

Kamaru Usman Stops Gilbert Burns To Retain Welterweight Title.

Kamaru Usman retained his welterweight title by winning his 13th successive UFC bout on Saturday night in Las Vegas. The Nigerian-born Texan stopped Gilbert Burns with punches 34 seconds in the third round at UFC 258, taking his record to 18-1, defending his title for the third time, and breaking Georges St Pierre’s consecutive welterweight victories record in the process.

Usman was put down in the first round but recovered impressively to stop Burns early in the third.

Usman and Burns were longtime teammates in South Florida before Usman moved his training camp to Colorado early last year, partly in anticipation of this showdown. MMA teammates typically don’t fight each other, but Usman and Burns had no problem setting aside their history to fight for a title.

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

In the night’s other main bout, Mexican flyweight Alexa Grasso beat Maycee Barber by unanimous decision after a hard-fought contest.

Four of the nine fights were decided by unanimous decision, with Kelvin Gastelum beating Ian Heinisch, Ricky Simon defeating Brian Kelleher, Belal Muhammad overcoming Dhiego Lima, and Christ Gutierrez outdoing Andre Ewell.

Julian Marquez beat Maki Pitolo via third-round submission, Anthony Hernandez won through a second-round submission against Rodolfo Vierira, while Polyana Viana gained a first-round submission against Mallory Martin.

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