UFC 258 Presentation and Predictions: The Former Teammates Fight – G. Burns will shock the world?

Early on February 14. The UFC 258 Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) tournament will be held at the Apex facility in Las Vegas (USA) in the morning Lithuanian time. In it, the eyes of all fans will turn to the main battle in which the 33-year-old Nigerian Kamaru Usmanas (17-1) Defends the UFC middleweight world champion belt against 34-year-old former teammate Brazil Gilberta burnsa (19-3).

The first fight of the preliminary program will begin at 1:30 p.m. Lithuanian time, the second preliminary part will start at 3.00 and the main one at 5.00.

We can expect to see the match between K. Burns and K. Usman around 7pm Lithuanian time.

Main combat:

Fight for the middleweight title (up to 170 pounds or 77.1 kg): Kamaru Usman (17-1) – Gilbert Burns (19-3)

The fight was scheduled for last summer, but it was announced on July 4 that it would be canceled due to G. Burns’ positive COVID-19 test. If it’s frankly, it might even go out forever.

At UFC 251, we saw Usman surely defeat Jorge Masvidal, and that tournament drew millions of streaming sales and possibly allowed Usman to attract new fans.

The Nigerian nightmare is currently the best middleweight fighter in the world and may also aspire to become the best pound-for-pound fighter in the future.

Usman is a phenomenal fighter and athlete, and his physical qualities are his best side. In the UFC, he was able to confidently beat every opponent he had encountered and it didn’t matter at all if they were stronger in wrestling, grabbing or putting the opponent in punches.

Does K. Usman have any weaknesses? It’s hard to say, maybe he can react badly to painful actions, because the only loss he suffered before his UFC career was precisely giving up on the ground floor. However, there was still no rival in the UFC who could turn him around and try to take advantage of his “weakness.”

While it’s debatable whether K. Usman’s shot is as strong as Stephen Thompson’s or J. Masvidal’s, it doesn’t matter at all when K. Usman simply presses his opponent against the edge of the cage and knocks him down.

G. Burns is an interesting opponent for K. Usman. Although his record in the UFC is 12-3, but only when in 2019. He moved to a middleweight, we saw the best version.

Since then, he has won four victories in a row and each one has been more impressive than the last. The world-class Brazilian jujitsu black belt can now also perform powerful pressure blows. Let’s add that he is also a great fighter and we have a fighter that can hurt K. Usman.

Would that be enough for victory anyway? Despite the improvements in wrestling, Burns is still a long way from Usman. Just as Colby Covington and Tyron Woodley couldn’t tear it down, so should Burns.

Worryingly, Burns is about 8cm shorter than Usman, who also has the advantage of about 10cm of outstretched arms. Fighting an opponent who can hit both from a distance and in the clinic doesn’t promise anything good.

Burns has improved significantly in recent years, but this fight can go as it did in 2016. A duel against Michel Prazeres, which he lost. Prazeres has a similar style to Usman, but it doesn’t come close to his ability.

Interesting data:

∙ K. Usman has a 16-game winning streak and hasn’t suffered a loss since 2013. May.

∙ K. Usman is one of only three fighters in UFC history, who started the organization with 12 wins in a row. The other two are Anderson Silva and Chabib Nurmagomedov.

∙ K. Usman is the only fighter in the UFC midfielder category to have started his career in the organization with 12 consecutive victories.

∙ K. Usman’s 12-game winning streak at middleweight, along with Georges St-Pierre, is the longest in the division’s history.

∙ K. Usman won 9 of his 12 victories by decision of the judges.

∙ K. Usman outpointed Tyron Woodley on strikes 336-60 (+275) and that’s the UFC fight record.

∙ K. Usman took 192 body shots against T. Woodley and this is a UFC record in one fight.

∙ K. Usman has defended himself against the attempts of 17 opponents to overthrow him.

∙ G. Burns could become the first Brazilian middleweight champion in UFC history.

B Burns’ five-win series is the third longest active series at middleweight and is second only to K. Usman (12) and Leon Edwards (8).

Verdict: victory for K. Usman by unanimous decision of the judges

Sportas.lt visitor forecast:

Women’s lightweight wrestling (up to 125 pounds, 56.7 kg): Maycee Barber (8-1) – Alexa Grasso (12-3)

Although stylistically it is a great fight, it can be said that it does not deserve to be the penultimate fight of the night.

Both Barber and Grasso are among the top 15 fighters in the £ 125 (or 56.7 kg) category and they certainly have the prospect of becoming champions one day. However, this would primarily require Valentina Shevchenko to drop out of this weight class.

Mexican fighter A. Grasso, who has 4 wins and suffered 3 losses in the UFC organization, is the one who likes to attack the most. She prefers technical boxing, combines combinations well, and likes to be aggressive.

Still, everything changes when he is on the ground. All of his losses in the UFC were in this same place. Although her fight is improving and she was almost forced to give in to Carlos Esparza, she is definitely sensitive to conversions.

Barber relies primarily on his physique and aggression. At the age of 22, she is one of the youngest female fighters in the UFC and has joined the organization for her excellent ability to hit the ground.

In the first fight, he destroyed Hannah Cifers, although in the second fight, in which he defeated JJ Aldrich with a TKO, it wasn’t that impressive.

Unfortunately, Barber did not fight for almost a year. He had a serious knee injury when he lost to veteran Roxanne Modafferi, making it difficult to predict how he will recover.

Assuming he wasn’t seriously affected by the knee injury, Barber has an advantage in this fight. Grasso is more technical, but lacks the power and skills that Barber developed.

Barber is likely to overtake Grasso and dominate the field after the hailstorms, winning ahead of time.

Verdict: M. Barber win with technical knockout

Sportas.lt visitor forecast:

Middleweight fight (up to 185 pounds or 83.9 kg): Kelvin Gastelum (16-6, 1 no winner) – Ian Heinisch (14-3)

Gastelum has not been the best recently, and in fact he has a three-game losing streak. Still, during that series, the top middleweight fighters, Israel Adesanya, Darren Till and Jack Hermansson landed.

Heinisch is a tough and aggressive opponent, but his wrestling and boxing are inferior to Gastelum. If K. Gastelumas does not miss the decisive shot, then he should win by decision of the judges.

Verdict: victory for K. Gastelum by decision of the judges

Sportas.lt visitor forecast:

Lightweight bout (up to 155 pounds or 70.3 kg): Jim Miller (32-15, 1 no winner) – Bobby Green (27-11-1)

Although 2020 was a bad year for many, it just wasn’t for Green. Green began his UFC career with four wins in a row, but after 2014. He lost to Edson Barbosa, the fighter faced personal problems and injuries, and went almost two years without a fight. The return was followed by two more defeats for Dustin Poirier and Rashid Magomedov and a draw for Land Vannat. Although in 2018. finally, Green returned to the path of victory and defeated Erik Koch, but then again two defeats for Drakkar Klose and Francisco Trinaldo. But in 2020, Green defeated Clay Guida, Land Vannata and Alan Patrick in less than three months by decision of the judges, and only in the fourth year of the fight Thiago Moisés fell by decision of the judges.

For Miller, this will be the UFC’s 37th straight fight and while he has clearly slowed down and is now 37 years old, he is still a solid fighter. Although Miller had to fight Lyme disease, which made his battles much worse, he won four of the last six battles in the first round with painful actions.

Both men have something to show for this fight, but Green should be more versatile and will likely convince the judges that he is better.

Verdict: B. Green win by judges decision

Sportas.lt visitor forecast:

Middleweight fight (up to 185 pounds or 83.9 kg): Maki Pitolo (13-7) – Julian Márquez (7-2)

This fight will start the main card of the tournament. Given that M. Pitolo has only 1 win in the UFC organization and has suffered 3 losses, this is probably his last chance to get hooked. Still, it’s hard to expect him to succeed against Marquez.

Marquez hasn’t fought since 2018, but he looked amazing in the first few fights of his UFC career: To eliminate his place in the organization, he knocked out Phil Hawes at the Dana White Contender Series and forced Darren Stewart to give up on his debut. duel.

Although Alessio Di Chirico’s loss set him back a few steps, he is still a good and versatile fighter in the middleweight class. You can probably win this fight and knock out.

Verdict: J. Márquez victory with technical knockout

Sportas.lt visitor forecast:

Preliminary fights:

Middleweight fight (up to 185 pounds or 83.9 kg): Rodolfo Vieira (7-0) – Anthony Hernandez (7-2, 1 no winner)

Verdict: R.Vieira victory in painful action

Light Middleweight Fight (up to 170 pounds or 77.1 kg): Belal Muhammad (17-3) – Dhiego Lima (17-7)

Verdict: Muhammad’s victory by unanimous decision of the judges

Women’s Minimum Heats (less than 115 lbs. Or 52.2 kg): Polyana Viana (11-4) – Mallory Martin (7-3)

Verdict: victory of P. Viana in painful action

Middleweight fight: Andre Ewell (17-6) – Chris Gutierrez (15-3-2)

Verdict: Victoria de Chutiérrez by unanimous decision of the judges

The first preliminary fights:

Lightweight bout (up to 145 pounds or 65.8 kg): Ricky Simon (17-3) – Brian Kelleher (22-11)

Verdict: R. Simon’s victory by unanimous decision of the judges

Semi-medium fight (up to 170 lbs or 77.1 kg): Gabe Green (9-3) – Philip Rowe (7-2)

Verdict: G. Green win with a technical knockout

Fighting in the lightest weight class (up to 125 pounds or 56.7 kg): Gillian Robertson (9-5) – Miranda Maverick (10-2)

Verdict: Maverick win by unanimous decision of the judges