Shane Burgos has low-key put together a nice run in the featherweight division since joining the UFC in 2016.
And now, he finally has a noteworthy name on his resume to get a little attention.
Burgos (12-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) squared off with Cub Swanson on the main card of UFC on ESPN+ 9 on Saturday night. The duo engaged in the sort of chess-match standup bout that can lead to a wide range of potential scores.
And that’s precisely how it went down at Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, after 15 minutes of action. Burgos earned a split decision, getting a 30-27 and 29-28 in his favor to a 30-27 score for Swanson (25-11 MMA, 10-7 UFC).
In this case, opposing 30-27s aren’t as crazy as it might sound. The first two rounds were close. Burgos did his best damage with front kicks and by wading in and landing punches in bunches. Swanson, for his part, preferred to stay at range, and throw mostly single punches that landed harder than Burgos’ shots.
The only real distinguishing run over the first two rounds was a flurry by Burgos late in the second, which had Swanson briefly covering up.
Swanson showed urgency in the first round as he picked up the pace. He emerged from a scramble with Burgos back in the standup and landed knee after knee to Burgos’ leg. But Swanson never came close to a finish in the final round, and Burgos did enough in two judges’ eyes to get the nod.
Burgos, for his part, had no doubt in his mind about the result.
“I feel like it should have been unanimous. Maybe the third round he could have got a couple takedowns up against the cage, but even the third I feel I won,” Burgos said.
With the victory, Burgos now has won two straight. Swanson, the longtime popular veteran, has dropped four fights in a row.
Up-to-the-minute UFC on ESPN+ 9 results include:
- Shane Burgos def. Cub Swanson via split decision (27-30, 30-27, 29-28)
- Merab Dvalishvil def. Brad Katona via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Walt Harris def. Sergey Spivak via TKO (knees, punches) – Round 1, 0:50
- Andrew Sanchez def. Marc-Andre Barriault via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Macy Chiasson def. Sarah Moras via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 2:22
- Vince Morales def. Aiemann Zahabi via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
- Nordine Taleb def. Kyle Prepolec via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 20-27)
- Matt Sayles def. Kyle Nelson via submission (arm-triangle choke) – Round 3, 3:16
- Arjan Bhullar def. Juan Adams via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
- Cole Smith def. Mitch Gagnon via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
For complete coverage of UFC on ESPN+ 9, check out the UFC events section of the site.
