Kamaru Usman will put his welterweight title on the line on Saturday when he takes on top contender Gilbert Burns at UFC 258 as a -275 favourite on the UFC odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Usman has been idle since defending his crown with a unanimous decision win over Jorge Masvidal at UFC 251, and is now unbeaten in 16 straight contests going into Saturday night’s bout at UFC APEX in Las Vegas.
Usman’s win streak features 12 victories since joining the UFC in 2015. The 33-year-old has shown his durability during his current dominant stretch, with nine of his 12 UFC clashes settled by the judges. That includes his five-round unanimous decision win over Tyron Woodley that earned him the UFC welterweight title at UFC 235, paying out on +170 odds at sports betting sites.
The 33-year-old also demonstrated tremendous punching power early in his career. Usman recorded TKO wins inside two rounds in four of his first six professional fights, and ended Sergio Moraes’ night with an opening-round knockout at UFC Fight Night 116.
Burns aims for a seventh straight victory when he steps into the octagon on Saturday as a +215 underdog. The 34-year-old Brazilian earned his first career title shot with a unanimous decision win over Woodley last spring, and has taken home Performance of the Night bonuses in each of his past two outings.
Like Usman, Burns has regularly gone the distance, with four of his six recent wins coming by decision. However, the former World Jiu-Jitsu Champion was dominant in his first-round TKO win over Dan Meis as a -160 favourite at UFC Fight Night 170, and has seen 10 of his 19 career victories come inside five minutes.
Elsewhere on the UFC 258 odds, rising star Maycee Barber tries to rebound from her first loss as a pro when she battles Alexa Grasso in a women’s flyweight matchup as a -105 underdog. “The Future” kicked off her career with eight straight wins, including six finishes inside two rounds, but the 22-year-old suffered a unanimous decision defeat last time out, falling to Roxanne Modafferi as heavy -950 chalk at UFC 246.
Grasso sits perched as -125 chalk after claiming a three-round unanimous decision win over Ji Yeon Kim in her women’s flyweight debut at UFC Vegas, but she has failed to tally consecutive victories during a middling 3-3 run.
As well, middleweights dominate the card earlier on Saturday night as Kelvin Gastelum takes on Ian Heinisch as a -230 betting favourite, while Julian Marquez faces off against Maki Pitolo sporting short -170 odds.
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