COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Short notice was no problem for Gilbert Burns at UFC on ESPN+ 18. The late replacement still managed to earn one of the biggest wins of his career over Gunnar Nelson.
Although Burns (17-3 MMA, 10-3 UFC) wasn’t able to put Nelson (17-5-1 MMA, 8-5 UFC) away, some big moments in the striking and grappling departments were enough for him to edge out two of the three rounds for the unanimous decision victory with scores of 29-28 across the board.
The welterweight bout was part of the main card of UFC on ESPN+ 18, which took place at Royal Arena and streamed on ESPN+.
Given the high-level grappling of both men, the first several minutes of course consisted of striking exchanges. Burns’ volume and accuracy was superior, though, because he managed to land some strong punches and hard low kicks. Nelson was right there for it, and with less than a minute left he answered with a successful takedown. He couldn’t do much with it, but it started some momentum in his favor going into the second.
Nelson began to find his groove in the second frame. He pressured Burns with multi-shot combinations that also initiated some advantageous positions for him in the clinch. Burns kept solid, and responded with some solid offense of his own including a big judo throw, a nasty flying knee – which Nelson somehow absorbed – and an Anaconda choke attempt to close a back-and-forth round.
With the fight up for grabs going into the final frame, Burns continued to work the low kicks on Nelson, who was showing noticeable bruising. Nelson did well to push forward, but Burns’ striking attacks were more consistent and effective. The Brazilian put a stamp on it when he scooped Nelson up with a big takedown to tip the scale in his favor.
With a 4-0 career record at 170 pounds, Burns said he plans to stay in the weight class and called out Neil Magny to fight at UFC 245 on Dec. 14 after praising Nelson for his toughness.
“I came here to stay,” Burns said in his post-fight interview with Dan Hardy. “I feel like I felt great on one or two weeks. He’s a very high-level guy. I was able to land a flying knee and a couple takedowns, but it was hard to advance position. He’s a high-level.”
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN+ 18 results include:
- Gilbert Burns def. Gunnar Nelson via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29)
- Ion Cutelaba def. Khalil Rountree via TKO (punches and elbows) – Round 1, 2:35
- Ovince Saint Preux def. Michal Oleksiejczuk via submission (Von Preux choke) – Round 2, 2:14
- Nicolas Dalby def. Alex Oliveira via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- John Phillips def. Alen Amedovski via knockout (punches) – Round 1, 0:14
- Makhmud Muradov def. Alessio Di Chirico via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Ismail Naurdiev def. Siyar Bahadurzada via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-25, 30-26)
- Giga Chikadze def. Brandon Davis via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
- Lina Lansberg def. Macy Chiasson via unanimous decision (29-27, 29-27, 29-28)
- Marc Diakiese def. Lando Vannata via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26)
- Jack Shore def. Nohelin Hernandez via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 3, 2:51
