33-year-old Nigerian fighter Kamaru Usman retains his UFC welterweight 256 titles after a third-round knockout win over the challenger, Gilbert Burns, in UFC 258 in Las Vegas. With this latest win, Kamaru Usman has now won his last three-consecutive title defence (defeating Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal in 2019 and 2020 respectively).

Usman wasn’t sharp at the beginning of the bout as he was stunned by his former Brazilian training partner (Gilbert Burns) but as the match progressed Usman recovered terrifically to turn the tables on Gilbert Burns and win a third-round TKO finish at UFC Apex in Las Vegas. 

Interestingly, Kamaru Usman has now won every of his last 13 UFC fights and he’s now ahead of Georges St-Pierre for the longest winning streak at welterweight. Before the bout between the two, Gilbert Burns was on a six-fight winning streak but his unbeaten run got halted today by the Nigerian Nightmare who extended his wins to 17 consecutive fights and improved his mixed martial arts career record to 18 wins and one loss.

The 33-years-old Nigerian Nightmare (Usman Kamaru) got so many praises for himself after his tremendous victory over the Brazilian Gilbert Burns today: “This one was tough. It was a very, very tough one, because of the whole gym situation (and) me leaving. But I’ve said it, man, I’m the varsity guy. My fight IQ is different. It’s different when you’re in the gym with me. But when you get in here, it’s different ball game. From start to finish, I’m a whole other savage, and he saw that tonight. So, from start to finish there was no friends in there, no friends at all. I had to go in there and do what I had to do, and that’s go in and win this title. I am the best on the planet for a reason (and) I’m here to stay.”

How the Bout Happened 

Not quite long as the game started, Burns began on a high note, hit Usman with a big right hand that connected just behind the left ear of the Nigerian Nightmare. 

As the bout proceeded, it was looking as if Burns would have the first round to himself but Usman recovered greatly and began to throw jabs. 

Usman remained steadfast in working behind his lead left in the second round and rocked Burns with a big right hand as the winning pendulum swung back in his favour. 

Kamru Usman was never in rush at the final stage of the bout. He calmly stalked the challenger around the octagon, switched stances, and mixed kicks into his combinations before he stunned Burns with a well-timed jab.

That jab was the beginning of the end of the fight at the start of the third round when Usman decked Burns with his first punch of the round with a sequence of well-placed ground strikes follow-up to put the bout to an end just 34 seconds into the third round.