Wrapping Up: UFC 258
UFC 258 and UFC 257 have a few similarities. The undercards were both a bit thin, yet over-delivered, and the main fights on the cards were stellar bouts that lived up to the hype. However, with Saturday's card, we had one major difference. The main event of UFC 258 featured arguably the greatest welterweight in UFC history.
I am being a bit hyperbolic with that, as Kamaru Usman has a long way to go before matching George St. Pierre’s record twelve title fights in the welterweight division. Before I get too deep into the welterweight division and where we sit with it, there were a couple of good fights on this card worth going back and giving a watch if you have the ability to do so. Anthony Hernandez shocked the world with his major upset win over Rodolfo Vieira. Not only did Hernandez get the win, but he submitted the former Abu Dhabi jiu-jitsu champion. Kelvin Gastelum also got back to his winning ways with a great performance against Contender Series alum Ian Heinish. Julian Marquez’s defeat of Maki Pitolo was also an extremely fun fight and worthy of Fight of the Night had the main event not been so stellar.
Speaking of that main event, Kamaru Usman defended his welterweight title against his former teammate and training partner, Gilbert Burns. The fight started off with Burns pushing the pace and landing a big right hook that wobbled Usman. Usman played defense for the rest of the first but after one round, the champion was on his heels. The second round would not go the same. Usman landed big strike after big strike, uncorking his piston of a jab and taking complete control of the fight. When the third round rolled through, Usman had fully recovered from his first-round mishaps, and Burns looked in trouble. Less than one minute into the round Usman dropped Burns to the mat with a jab for the second time in the fight, and this time Burns wouldn’t be getting back up. Gilbert immediately jumped on him with some vicious ground and pound but Herb Dean would call a stop to the fight shortly thereafter.
With the win, Usman moves into a six-way tie for the second most consecutive wins in UFC history with thirteen wins in the promotion. Of the five people he is tied with, however, Usman is the only one with the streak still active. Amanda Nunes is on eleven though so that's something to watch going forward. The only person above Usman currently is Anderson Silva with his legendary sixteen consecutive wins. As incredible as that feat is, I don’t see any way that Usman can be stopped from reaching that mark. Kamaru Usman has taken down some of the very best welterweights of all time and has done so with absolute ease. Tyron Woodley was clearly past his prime but that fight was a demolition. Colby Covington put on a good show but got stopped in the fifth round and left the cage with a literal broken face. Most recently, Gilbert Burns got put down in the third round with maybe the stiffest jab I have ever seen.
Not only is Kamaru Usman truly the greatest welterweight we have in MMA right now, but he has done nothing but get better since switching camps and becoming champion. The thing to do now is look forward to the fights he has in his back pocket. The most obvious one is the one he called for versus Jorge Masvidal. We have technically seen this fight before, and to Masvidal’s credit, he made the fight go the distance on only six days' notice. However, the fight wasn’t close. One judge gave one round to Usman and even that felt generous. Usman has seemingly leveled up his game since then and who knows where Masvidal will be. Masvidal is a fantastic striker and solid on the ground, but what this recent run of fights has taught us is Usman is better than everybody on the feet and the ground. Masvidal provides an interesting dilemma in that he can put anyone to sleep with just one punch or one well-executed knee, but so can Gilbert Burns. That didn’t exactly go well for Burns either.
Another person that has called out to Usman is the one man at the top of the division that Usman has yet to face. His name is Stephen Thompson. We have not seen Thompson fight for the welterweight belt since he had the two classic matches against Tyron Woodley, one of which he should have won and the other you could make a compelling case he should have won. Stephen Thompson, in my humble opinion, provides the most intriguing match-up for Usman. Thompson is maybe the best counter striker in UFC history and it’s what his whole game is based around. His takedown defense is some of the best in the fight game, and with Usman’s constant forward pressure, it may just play into “Wonderboy’s” hands. I have no confidence in Thompson being able to actually win the fight, but it does at least provide some intrigue. Thompson is probably in the last chunk of his career where he can realistically compete for a title and I would love for him to get one last crack at the title. Ever since his setback against Anthony Pettis, he has put in some of the best work of his career against Geoff Neal and Vicente Luque. Maybe Thompson needs one last prove it fight against the likes of Leon Edwards or Colby Covington, but should he win that kind of fight, he would absolutely deserve a spot in a title fight.
Speaking of Leon Edwards, what would it take to get him in the octagon with Kamaru Usman? I understand that Edwards is awful on the mic and lacks any semblance of natural charisma, but the man can fight his ass off. His last loss was in 2015 to Kamaru Usman and since then he has done nothing but win. The UFC has this strange obsession with preventing guys who win lots of matches in a row from competing for the title. Leon Edwards is the latest victim. This is another guy that I don’t think is quite on the same level as Usman. The fight would still be intriguing. Neither of these fighters is the same one they were back in 2015. This is a good thing though, as both men are vastly improved. To me, Leon Edwards is the division's best chance to get the title off of Usman, and that chance is a pretty slim one.
What I did here was utilize 1000 words to basically say Kamaru Usman isn’t losing any time soon and if he did I would be in utter shock. The welterweight world revolves around Kamaru Usman. Now if only we could get Bob Arum and Dana White to pull their heads out of their own asses and cross-promote a fight. Just have one night once a year where five or six champions from each promotion go toe-to-toe to find out who really is the best in the world. There is just so much money being left on the table. It makes me want to cry.