Gilbert Burns defeats Jorge Masvidal in UFC 287 co-main event, Gamebred retires following bout
The Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to us tonight, April 8, 2023, for UFC 287, going down live from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida.
Headlining the event is a middleweight championship rematch, or quadrilogy, however you look at it, as current champion Alex Pereira (7-1) aims to make the first defense of his newly claimed title opposing former champion Israel Adesanya (23-2).
Co-headlining the event was a welterweight contenders’ bout between a pair of former title challengers where no. 5 ranked Gilbert Burns (22-5) takes on no. 11 ranked Jorge Masvidal (35-17).
Burns came into the bout having submitted the winningest fighter in welterweight history, Neil Magny, in round one of his latest appearance, while Masvidal came in on a three-fight skid following one of the most impressive three-fight finish streaks of all-time.
Continue reading to see how this 170 lb co-main event of the evening went down:
Official Result: Gilbert Burns def. Jorge Masvidal via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
Masvidal opens up the bout looking sharp on his feet. He first gets his leg kicks going, as well as his jab, and eventually opens up with some combinations later in the round.
Despite being 38 years of age, Masvidal looks good through the initial four plus minutes, though he’s taken down in the final ten seconds of round one.
After a dominant round two where Burns absolutely mauled Masvidal on the mat, he also has a dominant round three. Masvidal opens up the round looking good on the feet through the first two minutes, up until Burns cracks him with a thunderous overhand right that wobbles him backward.
Burns proceeds to land heavy punches in combination, though Masvidal stays in there. Burns then takes Masvidal down once again in the final minute, remaining on top until the final bell.
Gilbert Burns looked good tonight in his defeat over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 287.
Jorge Masvidal had more than just a journeyman’s career, as many would suggest.
‘Gamebred’ had the best 2019 of any other fighter, where he went from someone who only ever lost close decisions to securing three back-to-back knockout victories over former title challenger Darren Till (17-1-1), multi-time world champion Ben Askren (19-0), who he secured the fastest knockout victory in UFC history against, and then Nate Diaz in an east coast versus west coast showdown, all three fights of which made him an absolute superstar, as well as a millionaire.
Then of course, another thing those fights got him were back-to-back shots at the UFC welterweight championship.
Masvidal was nearly two decades into his career before anyone even cared who he was, and he didn’t care. He was there to fight, and fight he did, exactly 54 times as a professional, including each a professional boxing and kickboxing bout, both of which he won.
Thank you Jorge Masvidal, you were as game as they come, hence the nickname, and your career was always fun to watch.
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