Belal Muhammad extends unbeaten streak, defeats Gilbert Burns in UFC 288 co-main event
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to us tonight, May 6, 2023, for UFC 288, going down live from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Headlining the event is the return of former UFC flyweight & bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo (16-2), who makes his first appearance in three years in attempt to reclaim his throne against current champion Aljamain Sterling (22-3).
Co-headlining the event was a five-round welterweight affair between no. 4 ranked Belal Muhammad (22-3, 1 NC) and no. 5 ranked former title challenger Gilbert Burns (22-5).
Muhammad came into the bout unbeaten in his last nine encounters, going 8-0 (1 NC) in that time, while Burns had gone 3-1 since his title shot defeat to former champion Kamaru Usman back in February of 2021.
Continue reading to see how our welterweight co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: (50-45, 49-46, 49-46)
Muhammad switches stances a lot early on, though Burns gets some good leg kicks through every time he switches to orthodox. Muhammad starts to come alive through the second half of the opening round, as he stumbles Burns backward with a jab and starts to get his body kicks going.
Burns continues to get baffled throughout the second and third rounds, as Muhammad has found his range and is picking the Brazilian apart.
Muhammad was just on point tonight; he looked even better in rounds four and five than the previous three, and he didn’t slow one bit. He did get caught with a few overhand rights thrown by Burns, but aside from that his performance was flawless. Uneventful, but flawless.
Belal Muhammad extends his win streak to five-straight, as he’s now unbeaten in his last ten fights with this victory at UFC 288.
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