On the night of Moscow time from February 13 to 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, an excellent mixed martial arts tournament UFC 258 will be held. In the main event, the welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and the main contender for the belt Gilbert Burns will fight.

UFC 2021 will be on the screens of ESPN+ this Saturday (February 13, 2021), when the undisputed welterweight champion Kamaru Usman will defend his title for the third time against Gilbert Burns, under the coaching of Mr. Usman, Henry Huft.
The main card, consisting of five fights, also includes the return of the prodigy in mixed martial arts (MMA), Macy Barber. After a serious knee injury, she will face a dangerous opponent, Alexa Grasso.
Our regular lead on the main card was supposed to disappear for a couple of days after putting all his money on the Chiefs match last week, so I'm replacing him again. Our predictions for the UFC 258 qualifiers, odds analysis, and analysis of the entire event from Andrew Richardson can be found here.
Here we go...

Weight class 170 lbs (~77 kg): Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman (17-1) vs. Gilbert “Durinho” Burns (19-3)

An unsolicited fact about me: I am frankly sad when promising fighters do not realize their potential. At some point, the same situation occurred with Burns. Despite the surprisingly successful body structure and the strongest force of the blow, combined with one of the best indicators in the fight, “Durinho” rolled to the results of 3-3, overpowered on his feet by Rashid Magomedov, defeated by Michel Prazeres and sent to the knockout by Dan Hooker.
It was very nice to see him finally fit in the welterweight division, he certainly earned this title with dominating victories against such difficult opponents as Gunnar Nelson, Demian Maia, and Tyron Woodley. But, unfortunately, these achievements will only make his defeat more distressing.
In addition to avoiding the need to lose a huge amount of weight before a fight, Burns ' recent success has largely been through hard work and exercise. A new cardio program and enhanced throwing training have made him a dangerous opponent even without the overwhelming size advantage he boasted before the transformation. Even so, trying to strangle Usman is useless, as due to his incredible strength, talent for fighting and high endurance, he will be able to come out victorious from any grappling.
Thus, Burns has 2 options: to defeat Usman in a fight on his feet, or to hope that Usman will be the initiator of the throw, which will allow him to attack from below. Neither option is particularly feasible. Obviously, Burns hits more than hard enough, but like many of Usman's past opponents, it's very difficult to achieve a good hitting rhythm when your opponent is able to pin you against the wall for a few minutes. In addition, Usman has not yet shown any weaknesses in the octagon, while Burns has been defeated several times.
If you think about the extra features, Burns is more capable at the top than at the bottom. Prazeres proved this with a confident victory over him, and he is far from the first to do so. If Usman decides to pin Burns to the floor and buy some time, the second is unlikely to be able to resist it in any way.
Burns has a couple of tricks available for using openings to his advantage, but an experienced fighter like Usman is unlikely to miss many of these tricks. The active use of grabs and holding the opponent from above will determine Usman as the winner.

Prediction: Usman defeats Burns by mutual consent

185 lbs (~84kg): Kevin Gastelum (16-6) vs. Ian” The Hurricane " Heinish (14-3)

A run of three defeats is a serious factor, but Gastelum's current position cannot be underestimated. Tough and technically strong opponents, such as Israel Adesanya and Darren Till, gave him problems, and sometimes immediately falling into the grips, you can not make a strong reputation for yourself. Jack Hermansson is still in the top ten in the middleweight division, capable of knocking out black belts in a single punch. Therefore, Gastelum is still not a contender for victory.
However, if he can't beat Heinish, that's a problem.
I'm not trying to discount Heinish's abilities, of course; he's a good fighter with great stamina and some unexpected power in his punches. He is one of those fighters that Gastelum, being a more experienced boxer, should be able to defeat. Heinish doesn't have enough time to gain enough pace on the Gastelum for 3 rounds, so he remains against an opponent with a striking advantage without an ace up his sleeve.
As long as Gastelum stays on his feet, it's a losing battle. This is obvious, but far from guaranteed; he loses by size, and Heinish consistently has more than 10 shots or attempts. Although " Hurricane” is not an expert in successful throws, and therefore between takedowns will be beaten by the opponent.
If Gastelum has not lost experience, he is a capable enough fighter to break through all the swings of Heinish and stop the attempts of strong blows. He relies on difficult combinations to get back into the winner's bracket.

Prediction: Gastelum defeats Heinish by mutual consent

UFC 258: Battle of the Looks

UFC welterweight champion Leon Edwards, currently No. 3 with a weight of 77 kg, said that he plans to stay on the fight schedule on March 13, after his original opponent, Khamzat Chimayev, was diagnosed with COVID-19, and he was removed from all subsequent fights.

“Nate talked for an hour about wanting to fight against the welterweight champions... let's see, " Edward tweeted about Nate Diaz. “A streak of eight wins and No. 3 in the world. Let's see if you still think you're ready for this.”

No response from Diaz has yet been received (and most likely will not be received).

Edwards (with an 18-3 record) has also shown interest in fights against Jorge Masvidal and Colby Covington; however, it is unlikely that the aforementioned fighters will agree to a fight without warning with a high risk of defeat and without financial gain.

In addition, the lower part of the “Fight Night " card is not worth the effort and expense.

In this situation, it is difficult to accuse Edwards of provocation, because he is paid to participate in fights at which he did not appear for more than a year. While Stephen Thompson recovers from his injury, the promoters will have to try to keep "Rocky" in place.

Stay tuned to learn more.

Interview with welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and title contender Gilbert Burns ahead of their UFC 258 main event bout.

A selection of the best finishes of the participants of the UFC 258 tournament. Kamaru Usman, Gilbert Burns, Kelvin Gastelum and others demonstrate their crushing skills in the octagon.

Watch UFC 258 headline fight week in the regular Embedded series. Former teammates Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns will face off in the main event for the welterweight division title.

Kamaru Usman's path to the UFC Welterweight title, which he will defend on February 14 against former teammate Gilbert Burns in the main event of UFC 258.

Watch UFC 258 headline fight week in the regular episodes of Embedded. Former teammates Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns will compete in the main event for the welterweight division title.

UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov already met a few weeks ago with Dane White, the company's president, on "Fight Island". Although White led fans to believe that "The Eagle" leaves the opportunity to return, in fact, Khabib said the opposite.

Nurmagomedov now says he plans to meet with White again in the coming weeks, but it looks like he will stand by his departure, making it clear that the 155-pound weight class should exist. He stated this in a recent interview with Match TV.

In addition, the undefeated champion (29-0, 13-0 UFC) says that if anyone deserves to lead the division as a champion in his absence, it is Dustin Poirier, who recently won a stunning knockout victory over Khabib's most principled opponent, Conor McGregor, at UFC 257.
Recent rumors suggest that the organizers are considering organizing a trilogy fight between Poirier and McGregor in May this year. Of course, if the upcoming meeting of White and Khabib leads to the fact that the organizers will release the belt, "The Diamond" will be able to fight with a more worthy contender much earlier.
In addition, there is someone to choose from, for example, Charles Oliveira, who is actively working to win a series of eight fights, which include such big events as defeating Tony Ferguson and Kevin Lee. There's also Michael Chandler, who rose to prominence in the 155-foot weight class thanks to a dazzling Octagon debut and an outstanding knockout over Dan Hooker at UFC 257.

In any case, it looks like there will be a new leader in the division in 2021, unless White somehow miraculously persuades Nurmagomedov to return.