UFC 258: Usman vs Burns Bonuses
Earlier tonight (Sat. February 23, 2021) UFC 258 took place from the UFC apex facility in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The facility played host to the Welterweight title fight between former teammates Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns. After putting together a streak in the Welterweight division Burns inevitably set himself up for a clash with his former training partner in Usman for the belt. After being rescheduled multiple times the fight finally went down at UFC 258 and the two grapplers would up participating in a matchup contested mostly on the feet. After dropping Usman earlier, Burns found himself overwhelmed by Usman’s precision striking with the champion getting the win via TKO in the third round. Outside of the main event, there were many performances warranting bonuses.
The first bonus went to Polyana Viana on the preliminary card for her submission victory over Mallory Martin. As the bout began Viana was quickly able to engage on the ground setting up a triangle choke and using the position to land some savage elbows. After Martin was able to defend the submission, Viana transitioned to an armbar to close the show.
The second bonus went to Anthony Hernandez for his massive upset victory over grappling ace Rodolfo Vieira. Immediately as the fight began the multiple time BJJ world champion was able to get Hernandez to the ground and threatened a range of submissions. It looked as though the fight was near a finish, however, after Hernandez rose to the feet and landed a few shots Vieira began to show major signs of fatigue. After barely surviving into the second round, Vieira was dropped with a series of strikes before being submitted midway through the second round.
The third bonus of the night came via submission once again when Marquez managed to come back and find the finish against Maki Pitolo in the third round of their middleweight bout. While Pitolo was dominating the first two rounds in the third the tides turned to allow Marquez to get the finish.
The final bonus of the night came in the main event when Kamaru Usman successfully defending his title against Gilbert Burns. Usman had to fight through some adversity early in the goings before taking the lead in the second round and closing the show in the third.
