UFC 258: Gilbert Burns vs. Kamaru Usman Picks and Predictions

Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns face off on Saturday in the main event of UFC 258 for the welterweight belt at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. 

Kamaru Usman comes into this fight with a 17-1 record overall and each of his last three wins have been for the belt. Usman has won everyone of his fights inside the UFC, and he really hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. Usman’s last fight came against Jorge Masvidal and even though it was on shorter notice, he had no issue getting the job done, winning by unanimous decision. Usman had five takedowns in that last fight and it was the difference in the dominating victory.Usman is averaging 4.50 significant strikes per minute while absorbing 2.23 significant strikes per minute. Usman wants to get the fight to the ground and he is averaging 3.38 takedowns every 15 minutes, while being successful on 47 percent of his attempts. Usman is also stopping 100 percent of his opponents takedown attempts. In this fight it’s going to be about Usman controlling the fight by getting it to the ground. 

On the other side of this fight is Gilbert Burns who sit with a 19-3 record overall and he has won six fights in a row. Burns last fight was against Tyron Woodley in May of 2020 and he was able to win by unanimous decision. In that fight, Burns outstruck Woodley 83-28 and there was really no doubt that he was coming out on top. Burns is averaging 3.15 significant strikes per minute while their defense is giving up 2.74 significant strikes per minute. Burns also likes to get the fight to the ground averaging 2.21 takedowns every 15 minutes but he is only successful on 37 percent of his attempts.Burns is also averaging 0.7 submission attempts every 15 minutes.