UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Malott
Gilbert Burns was Saturday's contestant on "Can an aging ex-UFC title challenger maintain his position in the rankings against a rising young stud?"
He had a chance to answer at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he met surging Canadian fan favorite Mike Malott in the main event of a 12-bout card.
Burns was finished in three rounds by then-champ Kamaru Usman in a bid for welterweight gold five years ago and was sub-.500 (3-5) in eight fights since, including a three-year slide in which he'd lost to Belal Muhammad (UD 3), Jack Della Maddalena (KO 3), Sean Brady (UD 5) and Michael Morales (KO 1).
In fact, he'd not won a fight since beating Jorge Masvidal in the latter's retirement fight on the UFC 287 show in Miami in April 2023.
Meanwhile, Malott arrived on a three-fight heater, having handled Trevin Giles (UD 3), Charles Radtke (KO 2) and Kevin Holland (UD 3) since he was stopped in Round 3 by Neil Magny on the UFC 297 undercard in January 2024.
B/R's combat team was in position to deliver a real-time list of the show's definitive winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.
Winner: Canadian Coronation
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Malott scaled the fence, slung the Canadian flag over his shoulders, and experienced in real life the dreams he's been having since he turned pro 15 years ago.
Stopping Burns, a former title challenger, will presumably lift him into the top-15 rankings at welterweight and was a fitting way to cap off a night on which he became just the third Canadian—following Georges St-Pierre and Rory MacDonald—to headline on home turf.
The TKO came at 2:08 of Round 3, after Burns was dropped twice and unable to escape or reply as Malott pounced with a series of ground strikes.
"I'm absolutely elated right now," Malott said. "We come in here to pursue growth and greatness, and I think we were able to do that tonight."
But not everyone was savoring the moment.
In the opposite corner, Burns, now 39 and beaten in five straight fights, stripped off his gloves and laid them on the canvas, a universal sign of voluntary retirement.
"I work very hard for these fights," he said, fighting back tears as the crowd started a "Gilbert, Gilbert" chant. "I worked very hard, but I couldn't show it. I think that's it. We had a great career. I want to win so bad. But yeah, I think that's it. I'm content."
Winner: Perpetual Punishment
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It was a subtly noticeable visual.
Kyler Phillips had been the better man for most if not all the first seven minutes against Charles Jourdain, but when he backed toward the cage, looked up at the clock and took a particularly deep breath through his mouth midway through the second round, the pace had clearly taken its toll.
And Jourdain, a Quebec native making his third straight start at bantamweight since moving down from featherweight, never stopped pushing the chaos.
The 30-year-old didn't get the finish he was chasing but he didn't stop delivering punches, kicks and knees from all angles while securing a narrow but deserved unanimous decision in the co-main event.
All three judges—and the B/R scorecard—had it 29-28 for the winner.
"I'm sorry I didn't get the finish, but I'm very happy with the win of course," Jourdain said. "He's much tougher than I expected. He ate some very nice shots."
Loser: Tuning In Late
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Several knockdowns in one direction. A comeback knockdown in the other direction. Then a desperate try for a leglock as the rallying fighter went in for a finish.
And that was all in the first 90 seconds.
Jai Herbert and Mandel Nallo packed an awful lot into a frenetic lightweight bout, with Herbert eventually landing the series kill shots that necessitated a rescue from referee Jason Herzog at 2:05 of Round 1.
"When he hurt me about four times," Herbert said, "I just knew I was gonna get him with the counter."
Indeed, Nallo seemed to be damaging Herbert with every blow before walking into a counter right that left him nearly finished.
Herbert landed a series of ground strikes before Nallo spun and lunged for a leg submission, prompting Herbert to reengage on the feet and ultimately land the left-right combination that set up the finish.
It was the fourth win in 10 UFC fights for Herbert, while Nallo lost in his octagonal debut after winning on the Contender Series in September.
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Winner: Undisputedly Ugly
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The uglier her main card fight against fellow ranked flyweight Karine Silva got, the more Ontario native Jasmine Jasudavicius liked it.
The Niagara Falls product took her smaller opponent to the floor and pinned along the fence in each of the last two rounds, and ultimately grinded her way to a narrow but unanimous decision win that got her back on the winning side.
All three judges scored it 29-28, giving her the second and third rounds.
"I had to get back into the win column, so I played it safe," said Jasudavicius, who'd won five straight before getting KO'd in one round by Manon Fiorot last fall. "Her grappling is solid and I didn't want to try to jump onto something."
The winner threw more overall strikes, landed more significant strikes, scored each of the fight's three takedowns and had better than eight minutes of positional control.
"In rounds two and three," analyst Paul Felder said, "she got to her office."
Winner: Forever Young
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It's good to be young. In this case, Gauge Young.
The 25-year-old from Missouri arrived as the junior fighter on the show and he parlayed that youthful energy and exuberance into a second-half rally that secured a split decision over Brazilian export Thiago Moises in the main card opener at lightweight.
Moises warranted the nod in the first round thanks to two takedowns and a brief chase at a finish after he seized Young's back.
But the youthful American looked like a different fighter to begin Round 2, finding success while moving forward and working Moises with punches to the head and body.
He had the 29-fight veteran reeling and bloodied for much of the third and finished with a 131-46 edge in landed strikes, not to mention eluding 13 of his foe's 15 takedown tries.
"I thought I had it. It was a close fight. I think we came back strong and finished strong," Young said. "I'm trying to finish guys. But we'll take it. He's a legend. He's been in there with some of the top guys in the game and it's a feather in my cap."
Winner: Brazilian Bombing
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Once their tongues got back into their mouths, it became a race.
Broadcast partners Felder, Brendan Fitzgerald and Laura Sanko were stunned into silence, then stepping over one another to apply plaudits to the left hook Marcio Barbosa landed on Dennis Buzukja that sent the Staten Island vet into semi-consciousness.
We'll go ahead and call it "KO of the Year: One-Punch Division."
The 27-year-old Brazilian took a body shot, ducked a left and delivered one of his own that landed squarely on Buzukja's chin, dumped him to his back and didn't need a follow-up.
It was the 18th win of Barbosa's career, and his 16th KO in one round.
"One and done," Fitzgerald said. "That's how you make an entrance. Holy smokes. If you want a highlight in your UFC debut, that's a textbook example."
Winner: Emotional Rescue
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We're not crying. You're crying.
Robert Valentin looked like a 186-pound killing machine while chasing and ultimately securing a rear-naked choke defeat of Julien LeBlanc. But securing his first UFC win brought out emotions that left the Winnipeg crowd cheering moments after he'd beaten their guy.
Valentin lost his first three octagonal bouts, including an early KO to Ateba Gautier on the UFC 318 undercard just days after losing his mother last summer.
"I normally don't cry. But I dedicate this fight to my mom," he said. "I know she's watching. I love you, Mom, and I miss you. I worked so hard for this first win in the UFC. And I want to say thank you to all the guys who stood by me when I was down."
The finish was Valentin's 11th in 12 career wins, including six rear-naked chokes.
"He needed that one," Felder said. "He needed that one bad."
Winner: Turkish Turnaround
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Just when it looked safe to start sleeping on Gokhan Saricam, it wasn't.
The Turkish heavyweight had thrown several big flurries and taken some big shots from durable Canadian foe Tanner Boser and began looking the worse—or at least the more compromised—for wear as the second of three rounds wound down.
But then he landed a big right hand. And all was forgiven.
The 244-pounder stepped through Boser's hard kick to the left leg and countered with the overhand right that sent the Edmonton-based big man to the floor and set up a quick series of ground strikes that prompted Herb Dean's intervention at 4:43.
It was Saricam's 10th win in 12 pro fights and a stirring UFC debut for the 35-year-old.
"Don't be upset, Winnipeg," he said. "The guy who's gonna knock me out is not born yet."
Winner: Naming Up
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Her nickname upon arrival was "Scare."
But she's got some "Terminator" blood in her, too.
Battered and bruised early by Daria Zhelezniakova's distance strikes, Canadian bantamweight Melissa Croden kept robotically stalking her quarry and emphatically turned the tide upon getting her hands on the fleet-footed Russian.
She scored her first takedown halfway through Round 2, had Zhelezniakova noticeably compromised by the end of the session, and continued to hammer her on the feet and on the ground to lock up a decision in which all three judges gave her two of three rounds.
She wound up with a 92-81 edge in landed strikes, scored all four of the fight's takedowns and ran up better than five minutes of positional control time.
"That was 100 percent my hardest fight," said Croden, who'd split her first two UFC appearances. "Mixing in some wrestling was definitely a goal. I'm proud of myself for leveling up there."
Loser: True North Nonsense
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This just in: Lousy decisions aren't just an American phenomenon.
Canadian flyweight Jamey-Lyn Horth fell victim to ridiculous scoring on her home turf north of the border, seeing 14th-ranked JJ Aldrich walk away with the unanimous decision she'd earned in the prelim card's third bout.
Judges Greg Jackson gave Aldrich the first round and colleagues Junichiro Kamijo and Laura Baldwin saw her as better in the second despite her being on the short ends of 21-7 and 21-16 significant striking numbers, respectively, and failing on her lone takedown attempt.
All three gave the third round to Aldrich to lock up her 29-28 nods across the board.
B/R gave Horth all three rounds and saw her a 30-27 winner, following a third session in which she landed 28 significant strikes to Aldrich's 27.
"Wow," Sanko said. "I'm very surprised. I'm sitting here a little silent because I'm trying to remember seeing what the judges saw. But my gut reaction is that Jamey-Lyn Horth won that one going away."
Loser: Birthday Battering
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Resilience, particularly for a fighter, is a good thing.
But if the biggest takeaway from watching them is how much punishment they're ability to take without succumbing, it's not necessarily the best news.
That was the case for birthday boy Mark Vologdin on the prelim card, where the newly-minted 25-year-old was battered to the head, beaten to the body and fouled to the groin by catchweight opponent John Castaneda across a compelling 15 minutes.
Vologdin had been awarded his UFC contract after a Contender Series loss during which he rallied from the brink of a finish and left his opponent similarly stricken.
"Every time he gets tagged," said Sanko, "he responds so well."
Two judges leaned for Castaneda two of three rounds against Vologdin and the other gave him all three, but it was only good enough for a majority draw after the Minnesota resident was deducted a point following the second of his two egregious low blows in Round 2.
B/R had Castaneda up, 29-27, too.
Winner: Visiting Villain
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Now that's how you play the vanquishing villain.
Texas-based bantamweight John Yannis got his first UFC win in black-hatted style, dropping Canadian favorite Jamie Siraj with a right hand and later pasting him with elbows until referee Chris Desautels had seen enough after just 2:43 of Round 1.
Yannis immediately strutted away from Siraj's prone body and held an index finger to his lips to symbolically silence the boos coming from an early-arriving crowd.
"Canada, what's up?" he said. "I know I did your boy like that, but I hope I earned somebody's respect."
It was Yannis' first win with the promotion after a tap-out loss to Austin Bashi in his debut last summer that had followed a 9-3 run across 12 fights on the regional circuit.
"When I strike someone I know they're hurt," he said, "so I've just got to stay patient and I'll get my finish."
Full Card Results
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Main Card
Mike Malott def. Gilbert Burns by TKO (punches), 2:08, Round 3
Charles Jourdain def. Kyler Phillips by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Jai Herbert def. Mandel Nallo by TKO (punches), 2:05, Round 1
Jasmine Jasudavicius def. Karine Silva by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Gauge Young def. Thiago Moises by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Prelims
Marcio Barbosa def. Dennis Buzukja by KO (punch), 1:20, Round 1
Robert Valentin def. Julien LeBlanc by submission (rear-naked choke), 2:22, Round 1
Gokhan Saricam def. Tanner Boser by TKO (punch), 4:43, Round 2
Melissa Croden def. Daria Zhelezniakova by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
JJ Aldrich def. Jamey-Lyn Horth by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
John Castaneda drew with Mark Vologdin by majority decision (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)
John Yannis def. Jamie Siraj by TKO (elbows), 2:43, Round 1
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