With England’s Leon Edwards unable to take on former champion Tyron Woodley, an opportunity opened up for Burns to make a quick turnaround, and the Brazilian took his chance with both hands to put himself firmly in title contention.

Burns completely dominated Woodley through their five-round main event clash at UFC on ESPN 9, busting open the former champion, then going on to earn a shutout victory, with the judges scoring the bout 50-44, 50-44, 50-45 to give Burns the biggest, most dominant victory of his UFC career.

After his win, Burns called for a title shot against his then-teammate Kamaru Usman, stating, “My name now has got to be the No. 1 contender. I love the champ, my training partner Kamaru Usman, but come on, give me the shot. I’ve got a lot of love for you, but I’m next. I want to fight for the title.”

Watch Gilbert Burns vs. Tyron Woodley on UFC Fight Pass

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/lists/ufc-258-gilbert-burns-career-defining-fights

Maki Pitolo won’t pay any mind to Julian Marquez’s lengthy layoff ahead of their middleweight clash Saturday night.

The Hawaiian fighter is expecting the best version of Marquez to show up at UFC 258. The bout with Pitolo (13-7 MMA, 1-3 UFC) marks Marquez’s first fight since August 2018. Marquez hasn’t competed in 31 months due to injury, a cancelled bout after an opponent missed weight, and the pandemic.

Although Marquez hasn’t competed in a while, Pitolo refuses to factor his opponent’s inactivity into his game planning.

“I’ve been prepping for the best version of him,” Pitolo said. “I know he hasn’t fought in two years and that’s a big layoff and a big time to become a different fighter. I’m expecting the best version of him and I’ve been training for him so he can see the best version of myself.”

Pitolo is looking to bounce back from a two-fight losing streak. He believes he will get the job done against Marquez late in the fight.

“He’s a good fighter, (but) he’s a big boy, so I’m expecting him to have that good cardio blast in the first round and then become heavy-footed later on in the fight,” Pitolo said. “I got good cardio. I got good gas tank and I feel like that’s the most pressure on him.”

The 30-year-old is hoping to win and get three more fights in 2021. His goal for his career this year is quite simple.

“This year I look to find myself in the middleweight division, make a name for myself and get on a streak”

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/02/ufc258-maki-pitolo-julian-marquez-not-expecting-drop-off-game

UFC 258 Embedded features the fighter from Saturday’s pay-per-view event at The Apex in Las Vegas, where welterweight champion Kamaru Usman puts his belt on the line against former teammate Gilbert Burns in the main event.

Maycee Barber hits mitts with her brother and coach. Kelvin Gastelum, Alexa Grasso, Gilbert Burns and Kamaru Usman attend a socially-distanced media day. Gastelum gets psyched when he steps inside the Octagon, and Barber takes her time giving autographs.

(Video courtesy of UFC)

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Article source: https://www.mmaweekly.com/ufc-258-embedded-were-going-to-make-fire

The welterweight match-up between Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev has been derailed for a third time.

UFC president Dana White told ESPN on Thursday that the March 13 bout was off after Chimaev once again had to withdraw from the fight because of lingering effects from COVID-19.

The bout was initially booked for Dec. 19, but was scrapped after Edward s withdrew while dealing with a serious case of COVID-19. It was rescheduled for Jan. 20, but canceled after Chimaev withdrew because of lingering health issues from his own bout with COVID-19.

With his health issues persisting, White told ESPN that the UFC was going to move on from the Edwards match-up and give Chimaev time to fully recover. They will instead move on to another match-up for Edwards.

“I’m so bummed out. I was so excited. That was one of my favorite fights this year,” White told ESPN. “The one thing you have to look at right now is health. Let’s make sure this guy is healthy, get him the best care we can and make sure he makes a full recovery.”

Is it time for Leon Edwards vs. Stephen Thompson?

Though White didn’t say who the UFC had in mind, he indicated that matchmaker Sean Shelby was already hard at work to line up an opponent.

It might not prove to be too difficult of a task. Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson was quick to step up and offer to fight Edwards.

“Hoping for a full recover for Khamzat Chimaev,” Thompson wrote on Twitter. He then added, “Leon Edwards, let’s give the fans what they want to see! No. 3 vs. No. 5!”

Ryan Hall’s troubles getting inside the octagon have continued with another fight withdrawal.

Hall (8-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) is out of his scheduled featherweight matchup against Dan Ige (14-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC) at UFC Fight Night on March 13 for undisclosed reasons.

MMA Junkie confirmed the news with a person close to the situation following an initial report from BJPenn.com. The person requested anonymity because the UFC has yet to make an official announcement.

The UFC is currently looking for a replacement to fight Ige, who is No. 11 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie featherweight rankings. Ige last competed at UFC on ESPN 13 in July, suffering a unanimous decision loss to Calvin Kattar in the main event.

Due to the withdrawal, Hall, who won Season 22 of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality series, still remains without a fight since beating Darren Elkins at UFC Fight Night 155 in July 2019.

The latest lineup for UFC Fight Night on March 13 now includes:

Leon Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev
Davey Grant vs. Jonathan Martinez
Matthew Semelsberger vs. Jason Witt
Jinh Yu Frey vs. Gloria de Paula
Dan Ige vs. opponent TBA
Eryk Anders vs. Darren Stewart
Nasrat Haqparast vs. opponent TBA
Steve Garcia vs. Charles Jourdain
Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
Ray Rodriguez vs. Rani Yahya
Philipe Lins vs. Ben Rothwell

Article source: https://mmajunkie.usatoday.com/2021/02/ufc-news-ryan-hall-out-fight-vs-dan-ige-ufc-fight-night-march