UFC 258 is in the books, and it saw an intriguing welterweight title bout between two longtime friends and teammates. Gilbert Burns stunned and hurt Kamaru Usman early, and looked like he was poised to take the belt, but the champion showed his veteran savvy. He weathered the storm, then eventually started landing very good jabs and straight punches that eventually hurt and finished Burns.
Usman once again defended his title, continued his impressive run at 170 lbs, and remained undefeated in the UFC.
The co-main event saw Alexa Grasso pull off an impressive upset over the bigger and extensively hyped Maycee Barber. There were also other fun contests on the card.
Here’s a quick twitter thread with a brief recap and analysis of the event, that’s fitting for people’s social media era attention spans:
HERNANDEZ CHOKES OUT A BJJ LEGEND
PROS: Viera is the far better BJJ competitor, but this is MMA. Hernandez survived early ground exchanges to bust him up, wear him down. He didn’t just win,he subbed the BJJ champ!
CONS: Some BJJ guys seem to really need better explosive cardio
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) February 14, 2021
MARQUEZ ANACONDAS PITOLO
PROS: Clutch last minute choke got him the comeback win! Great cornering. Fun, back and forth fight. Hilarious Miley Cyrus Valentines call out at the end too.
CONS: What was that weird UFC ad in his post-fight speech?
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) February 14, 2021
SIMON DECISIONS KELLEHER
PROS: Really good pace and unrelenting pressure from Simon just completely took Kelleher out of his game. Impressive, one-sided win.
CONS: Some slow moments in the third, but nothing much really.
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) February 14, 2021
GASTELUM OUTSCRAMBLES HEINISCH
PROS: Reallyyy fun fight with an insane amount of back and forth with both takedowns and scrambles from each guy. It’s wild to think how much Gastelum has really grown since his early days in the UFC.
CONS: Unless you only want a slugfest, none!
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) February 14, 2021
GRASSO PICKS APART BARBER
PROS: Despite size, strength disadvantages, Grasso showed she’s more technical everywhere. Nice counters, slick arm triangle to back take too!
CONS: Barber kept hitting air. She’s been hyped a lot, but really needs to develop https://t.co/Q9pc3KYMtr
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) February 14, 2021
USMAN TKOs BURNS
PROS: Burns hurt him early but Usman remained calm, showed championship heart & savvy. He was patient, even after turning the tide, and got the win. Fight IQ & experience
CONS: Heartbreaking loss for Burns. A few minor mistakes was enough for Usman to take over
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) February 14, 2021
#UFC258 OVERALL:
PROS: Thin card, but fun fights. Usman’s fight IQ. Hopefully the dominant champ gets that overdue marketing push
CONS: Rogan weirdly screamed at lots of insignificant strikes. I love that they’re still trying to improve visuals, but… https://t.co/gmMc0xy3mv
— Bloody Elbow (@BloodyElbow) February 14, 2021
And that’s about it. For more social media musings, follow me on twitter over at @antontabuena, and of course you should do that for Bloody Elbow’s official twitter account as well.
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