UFC 258: Kamaru Usman TKOs Gilbert Burns to break Georges St-Pierre record – ‘put some respect on my name’
- ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ makes third defence of welterweight title, and now owns longest win streak in division’s history (13)
- ‘Gilbert is a guy I’ve known from the start, and I love him. This one was tough for me to deal with,’ Usman admits
Kamaru Usman showed he is levels above this UFC welterweight division with a commanding third-round TKO of Gilbert Burns, but the scary thing is he’s still in his prime and only getting better.
“The Nigerian Nightmare” (18-1) cemented his status as the best 170-pound fighter on the planet, making the third successful defence of his title in the UFC 258 main event at the promotion’s Apex facility in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
The 33-year-old has now supplanted the legendary former two-division champ Georges St-Pierre (26-2) as the holder of the longest welterweight win streak (13) in UFC history, with a 17-fight overall streak. “Put some respect on my name,” Usman – ranked No 5 in the UFC’s pound-for-pound list – screamed into the cameras, and it is harder to think of a more unheralded fighter in the world. He is surely starting to enter the “GOAT” (greatest of all time) conversation.
This against the game 34-year-old Brazilian Burns (19-4) who had torn through the division since moving up from lightweight. But that had caused inevitable tension at their Sanford MMA gym in Florida, and it was Usman who chose to leave for Colorado and Team Elevation under the guidance of Trevor Wittman for this fight.
“This one was a tough one, a very, very tough one, because the whole gym situation, me leaving … and first and foremost guys, you cannot discredit what Gilbert has done in this division,” Usman told Joe Rogan backstage after the fight.