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At tonight's UFC on ESPN: Woodley vs Burns event, Tyron Woodley made his highly-awaited return to the Octagon for the first time in almost over a year, since losing the UFC Welterweight Championship to Kamaru Usman at UFC 235.
His opponent for the night was Gilbert Burns, who came into the fight with a win over Demian Maia at UFC Fight Night 170 back in March of 2020.
Gilbert Burns brushes-off Tyron Woodley in a one-sided fight
As the fight started-off, Gilbert Burns immediately caught Tyron Woodley with a flurry of quick shots and got the latter down on his back. Burns, being the dominator he is on the ground, kept Woodley on his back and the former UFC Welterweight Champion was in all sorts of trouble early on.
However, as the fight gradually progressed, Woodley started showing signs of composure and eventually got himself back up on his two feet. Despite a nasty cut above his left eye, Woodley maintained himself through the rest of the round but did take some brutal shots to the body from Burns.
The fight resumed in Round #2 and the striking toned down a bit for this one. Burns, however, was the dominant of the two, as he pushed Woodley's back against the wall and the second round was definitely in favor of the Brazilian, as well.
The third round didn't have much in it, other than Burns catching Woodley with a solid right hand. The Brazilain kept up with his incredible striking throughout the round and also caught his opponent with a brutal calf kick.
The fight resumed in the fourth with Burns controlling Woodley in the center of the Octagon until ref Herb Dean had to reset the two men. 'Durinho' staggered Woodley with a hard right hand and eventually completed the second takedown of the fight. By this point, 'T-Wood' pretty much needed a finish to win this bout.
As we entered the final round of the fight, Burns kept up his aggression, as he clearly wanted to get the job done via a finish. However, Woodley was still a threat and possibly one shot away from a TKO finish. Burns didn't exaggerate himself and put together an overall phenomenal performance to secure his sixth straight win.
The victory also put Burns 4-0 in the UFC Welterweight Division, since moving back up the 170-pound division. The Brazilian definitely put himself into the UFC Welterweight Title picture with a vital win over Woodley.
What's next for Gilbert Burns?
In his post-fight interview, Gilbert Burns was asked by Daniel Cormier whom he would like to face next, to which the Brazilian responded by calling-out his own teammate and reigning UFC Welterweight Champion, Kamaru Usman.
'Durinho' demanded a title shot, with all due respect to 'The Nigerian Nightmare' and claimed that he's ready to challenge for the title, in the aftermath of his win over 'T-Wood' in the main event which was pretty one-sided.
