Kamaru Usman retained his welterweight title by winning his 13th successive UFC bout on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
The Nigerian-born Texan stopped Gilbert Burns with punches 34 seconds into the third round at UFC 258, taking his record to 18-1, defending his title for the third time, and breaking Georges St Pierre’s consecutive welterweight victories record in the process.
Usman stopped Burns, his former teammate, via TKO at 34 seconds in the third round to defend his UFC welterweight title in the main event of UFC 258.
He landed a right hand as he was switching stances to floor Burns, then slammed Burns with punches on the ground until referee Herb Dean pulled him off.
“Gilbert is a guy that I’ve known from the start,” Usman said in his post-fight interview. “I love him. This one was tough for me to deal with.”
Usman and Burns were teammates in South Florida since 2012, first with the Blackzilians and most recently with Sanford MMA
Usman departed for Colorado to train under coach Trevor Wittman last year after the initial fight with Burns was scheduled for July.
But Burns tested positive for COVID-19 and withdrew from that bout.
Henri Hooft, the longtime head coach for both Usman and Burns, did not corner either man and said he would not even watch the fight.
In the night’s other main bout, Mexican flyweight Alexa Grasso beat Maycee Barber by unanimous decision after a hard-fought contest.
Four of the nine fights were decided by unanimous decision, with Kelvin Gastelum beating Ian Heinisch, Ricky Simon defeating Brian Kelleher, Belal Muhammad overcoming Dhiego Lima, and Christ Gutierrez outdoing Andre Ewell.
