Kamaru Usman capped off Saturday night’s card with a stunning third round finish against former teammate Gilbert Burns, who had largely run roughshod over every opponent he’s faced since moving to 170 pounds. Burns even managed to put Usman on shaky ground in the opening round, something none of his recent opponents have accomplished.
Ultimately, Usman survived the early scare and then made the necessary adjustments to not only avoid a similar incident for the remainder of the fight but to then pick apart Burns on the feet before landing the finishing blows in round two. It was an awe-inspiring title defense, especially considering Usman has often been defined by his wrestling and control time in the clinch except much like his win over Colby Covington, he decided to abandon his grappling and just out strike his opponent.
In the co-main event, Alexa Grasso took a huge step forward in her career with a strong showing against highly touted prospect Maycee Barber to notch her second consecutive win at 125 pounds. Grasso’s boxing was on point all night long and she never allowed the bigger and more physically imposing Barber to bully her around the cage, which made a huge difference in the outcome of the fight.
With UFC 258 now in the books, we are going to look back to find out what passed and what failed from the second pay-per-view card of 2021. This is Making the Grade for UFC 258: Usman vs. Burns.
[h=3]PASSES[/h]1 … 2 … Kamaru’s Coming For You
Kamaru Usman has often lived up to his nickname as “The Nigerian Nightmare” because almost every opponent who has faced him has been haunted by his performance afterwards.
At UFC 258, Usman once again solidified his place as the best welterweight in the sport with a commanding performance against an ultra-dangerous opponent in Gilbert Burns. Considering Usman spent the better part of six years training alongside Burns, no one could have possibly known him better him yet the result was ultimately still the same.
Actually, that’s not true.
Somehow, Usman managed to improve with each passing minute of the fight after weathering the early storm from Burns. In between the first and second rounds, Usman took the instructions from his head coach Trevor Wittman and began employing a nasty lead jab that was just snapping Burns’ head back for the remainder of the fight. Not only that but Usman ultimately got the finish after he switched stances from orthodox to southpaw and then put Burns down for the final time with another jab from the alternate side. It was a staggering showcase for the UFC welterweight champion as he added Burns to the list of fighters who have tried and failed to defeat him.
Usman has now won 17 consecutive fights overall, 13 straight in the UFC welterweight division, three successful title defenses and he holds victories over four of the top five fighters in the world at 170 pounds not to mention vanquishing past UFC champion such as Tyron Woodley and Rafael dos Anjos along the way.
Usman may not be the loudest fighter on the UFC roster and he’s flat out declined to ever consider himself as one of the greatest of all time but that doesn’t mean his growing list of accomplishments shouldn’t merit consideration.
Yes, he’s still got a ways to go before matching Georges St-Pierre’s nine consecutive title defenses at welterweight but he already beat one record held by the Canadian this past Saturday night with his 13th consecutive win in the division.
Betting against him to continue this reign of terror comes at your own peril because Usman really has become the boogeyman of the welterweight division and there’s no signs of him slowing down.
Gracious In Defeat
As soon as referee Herb Dean called a stop to the UFC 258 main event, Gilbert Burns was still dazed and confused at what just happened to him but as soon as he realized that he had lost his shot to become welterweight champion, the Brazilian veteran doubled over in tears.
The emotion poured out of Burns, who has dreamed of becoming a UFC champion since he first started competing in mixed martial arts. He later embraced his former teammate Kamaru Usman while still choking back to tears because that’s just how much this moment meant to him.
Considering he suffered a knockout loss, no one could have blamed Burns for seeking medical attention and just going home to lick his wounds.
Instead, he faced down the media at the post-fight press conference, answered every question that was asked of him and showed tremendous grace even after arguably the toughest night of his fighting career. Burns offered no excuses for his loss other than pointing out mistakes he made while paying homage to Usman’s performance on the night.
Burns left Las Vegas without the UFC welterweight title around his waist but he showed the mark of a champion with the way he handled himself before, during and after the main event on Saturday night. He didn’t try to start a rivalry with his former training partner just because he suffered a defeat to him.
Instead, Burns commended Usman on a job well done while making it clear that he’ll be working doubly hard now to earn a second shot at him in the future because he knows that’s what it’s going to take to beat the reigning welterweight champion.
It’s easy to celebrate a winner but this time around Burns deserves a ton of credit for handling his defeat with respect and grace and those qualities should never be ignored.
Potential Realized
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After a particularly brutal weight cut where Grasso failed to make the strawweight limit for a fight against Claudia Gadelha, she decided to stop battling the scale and compete in a bigger division where she could be a lot healthier when stepping into the cage to face an opponent.
The results have heled Grasso finally cross the threshold from prospect to contender.
At UFC 258, Grasso put on a boxing showcase to pepper Maycee Barber with punches throughout the first two rounds, constantly slipping out of the way of her opponent’s attempts to bully her with size and power while countering with quick combinations. Grasso was definitely the smaller fighter but she never seemed that way in the clinch with Barber, who has built a reputation for kind of just mauling her competition whenever she gets a hold of them.
Grasso even managed to show patience and durability during a fast-paced final round where Barber threw everything at her and the kitchen sink. The end result was a unanimous decision win for Grasso — and her second consecutive victory overall for the first time since joining the UFC roster.
There’s no telling if Grasso will one day become a champion — she is competing in the same division as Valentina Shevchenko after all — but in her new weight class, the 27-year-old Mexican born fighter has finally started to realize her true potential and that deserves a round of applause.
[h=3]FAIL[/h]Put Some Hustle Behind that Muscle
At the UFC 258 post-fight press conference, Dana White was asked about Kamaru Usman’s potential to crossover from champion to superstar to become one of the true draws in the sport.
Now the reality is there’s no magic formula when it comes to creating superstars. That’s been proven time and time again over the years.
But when a reporter reminded White that the UFC is owned by Endeavor — one of the largest talent agencies in the world with departments across film, television, books and podcasts — he almost seemed dumbfounded about how that was supposed to help Usman build his brand. In fact, White’s response was the fact that there are more than 400 athletes on the UFC roster and he’s responsible for promoting all of them.
While that’s factually true, the UFC certainly has the ability to pick and choose the athletes who receive a little extra promotional shine, especially ahead of a big event.
To his credit, White hit the media circuit prior to UFC 258 to build Usman up as one of the greatest welterweight champions in history with the potential to eventually separate himself from the rest of the pack. Add to that, putting a fighter on television or doing interviews on SportsCenter still doesn’t guarantee anyone will care about them but it feels like the UFC has come up short where Usman is concerned.
Of course Usman has engaged in a pair of highly publicized fights against Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal, the latter of which sold more than 1.3 million pay-per-views. But the reality of that event was a combination of the first ever UFC card on Fight Island along with Masvidal’s own star power that had sky rocketed following a five-second demolition against Ben Askren followed by the creation of a “baddest motherf**ker” title for a fight against Nate Diaz.
After breaking Covington’s jaw and largely dominating Masvidal over five rounds, Usman should have been the talk of the town but yet it seemed most of the attention went to his opponents. Does that mean people just don’t care to pay attention to Usman or has the UFC come up short in the attempt to build him as a ferocious monster who has treated the welterweight top five like Jason Voorhees does foolish co-eds who go camping in the woods?
It seems more like the latter than the former because Usman hasn’t really seen that kind of over the top promotional push that many of the UFC’s best known champions have received.
White is undoubtedly an incredible promoter — arguably the best in combat sports — but maybe he should call on his pals Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell to see if they can put a little extra hustle behind Usman’s muscle and get him the opportunities outside the cage he so richly deserves.
[h=3]EPIC FAIL[/h]TUF Luck
Without The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC may not even exist today but the tired reality format is far from the hit making series that has produced numerous champions over the past 15 years but despite low ratings and dwindling talent pool, for some reason the obsession with the show still exists.
That was never more evident over the past week before and after UFC 258 when there were a ton of questions about who might coach the next season of the show when the long-running series returns this summer after a nearly three-year long hiatus. Kamaru Usman was front and center for those questions because many wondered if he’d like to spend six weeks coaching opposite someone like Jorge Masvidal before finally climbing back into the octagon to compete against him.
The problem is the cookie-cutter way The Ultimate Fighter is filmed and edited leaves little room for originality these days and the only truly memorable moments between coaches over the last few seasons involved T.J. Dillashaw’s exit from Team Alpha Male and his volatile relationship with former teammates Urijah Faber and Cody Garbrandt (which also involved Conor McGregor during one particular dust-up). Outside of that, The Ultimate Fighter has only produced one champion or title contender — Brandon Moreno — over the last five seasons of the show unless the entire premise was either crowning a champion of a new division (with the women’s flyweight division) or giving the season winner an automatic title shot (men’s flyweight with Tim Elliott).
Rather than tying up Usman and Masvidal for six weeks’ worth of filming plus another four months for the show to actually air on television, the UFC would be better served reviving their Primetime series, which was an incredibly effective bit of documentary filmmaking. Sure it was expensive — probably far more than a low budget reality show — but the payoff comes from building anticipation for the fight.
Announce the date and location for the event and then take three or four months following Usman and Masvidal around, learning their stories and understanding their history while simultaneously building the hype for the showdown in the cage. Rather than spending months just hoping a reality show will result in some viral moment that will produce some extra views on TikTok, use that time exploring the rivalry between Usman and Masvidal, what led to this moment and why everyone should be watching this fight for a second time.
If the UFC is determined to bring back The Ultimate Fighter, why not put the spotlight on the competition and invite back members from the first season to serve as coaches. Imagine having Diego Sanchez and Kenny Florian coaching opposite each other for a couple of weeks followed by Chris Leben and Josh Koscheck. Relive the glory days of the first season of the show by inviting back some of the most famous cast members in history to try and co-exist as coaches and then raise the stakes of the tournament where only the winner actually gets a guaranteed contract. Perhaps then at least there might be a reason to watch again.
[h=3]Overall Grade for UFC 258: C[/h]
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