Gilbert Burns made sure to start his campaign back to the title on a good note.
The former UFC title challenger defeated Stephen Thompson in a unanimous decision at Saturday’s UFC pay-per-view event. Burns (19-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) outpointed Thompson (16-4-1 MMA, 11-4-1 UFC) with a 29-28 across all judges’ scorecards.
The welterweight bout was the UFC 264 co-main event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. It aired on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
In the first round, both fighters took in striking distance tentatively, trying to read each other and get each other’s timing.
About two minutes in, Burns shot in on a low single and took down Thompson. From there the Brazilian landed some ground-and-pound as he advanced positions on Thompson. “Wonderboy” was able to get close to the fence and wall walk back to his feet. They had a quick short exchange where both fighters connected before the bell rang.
The second lacked action early on, as both fighters once again were very calculated and strategic in their approach. Thompson mainly stayed on the outside and landed good kicks to the body and legs, but nothing that hurt Burns. The Brazilian also connected with some good hooks, but little impact on Thompson. With about 30 seconds left. Burns was able to get Thompson down against the cage, where both men threw punches until time expired.
In the final round, Thompson really turned on the pressure. He walked down Burns and landed a spinning heel kick that seemed to stun the Brazilian. Burns quickly fired back and then shot for a takedown. He was unsuccessful at first but eventually was able to drag down Thompson to the canvas with two minutes left. Burns controlled the fight from side control and kept busy with ground-and-pound. Thompson was simply unable to get back to his feet for the rest of the fight.
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UFC 264 discussion thread
Burns successfully bounced back from his championship defeat to Kamaru Usman back in February at UFC 258. The loss to Usman snapped a six-fight winning streak that earned him the title shot. The 34-year-old made it no secret throughout fight week that he still planned to make a second run at the 170-pound belt.
Meanwhile, Thompson saw a two-fight winning streak come to an end. The 38 had wins over Vicente Luque and Geoff Neal prior to coming up short at UFC 264.
Up-to-the-minute UFC 264 results include:
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Gilbert Burns def. Stephen Thompson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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Tai Tuivasa def. Greg Hardy via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 1:07
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Irene Aldana def. Yana Kunitskaya via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:35
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Sean O’Malley def. Kris Moutinho via TKO (punches) – Round 3, 4:33
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Max Griffin def. Carlos Condit via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
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Michel Pereira def. Niko Price via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
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Ilia Topuria def. Ryan Hall via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 4:47
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Dricus Du Plessis def. Trevin Giles via knockout (punches) – Round 2, 1:41
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Jennifer Maia def. Jessica Eye via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
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Brad Tavares def. Omari Akhmedov via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
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Zhalgas Zhumagulov def. Jerome Rivera via submission (guillotine choke) – Round 1, 2:02
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Twitter reacts to Gilbert Burns’ tactical win over Stephen Thompson at UFC 264
