Stephen Thompson welcomed Nah-Shon Burrell to the Welterweight division in the closing fight of the UFC 160 Facebook prelims. Thompson outworked Burrell throughout their 15 minutes fight. It wasn’t especially exciting, but Burrell clearly showed he was by far the better mixed martial artist.
Thompson started the fight with a duo of side kicks, that Burrell defended by bullrushing him into the clinch. Stephens reversed and put Burrel’s back against the fence before they separated. Thompson ducked a left hook to score a takedown. More ugly clinch work. They separated again with Thompson getting the edge in the clinch. Couple solid shots landed by Thompson from distance. Nah-Shon went for a trip that Thompson reversed to end up on top. Burrell got back to his feet, but once again ended up defending Thompson’s clinch game.
Second verse, same as the first. Thompson scored point from the outside and put Burrell on the defensive any time they entered clinch range. It wasn’t the prettiest fight but a solid performance by “Wonderboy”.
Thompson was ahead on all cards going in to final round, but Burrell came out aggressive. Unfortunately for him, he once against ended up defending Thompson’s clinch. Left hook landed solid from Burrell, but Thompson ate it and backed him off with kicks and punches from distance. Take down from Thompson and Burrell got right back up.
Stephen Thompson defeated Nah-Shon Burrell in a unanimous decision victory.