Michael Morales is the real deal.
Not only did Morales’ undefeated streak remain intact, but the welterweight did it in dominant fashion. Everything was pretty even in the beginning until Morales started to land some hard punches. Burns attempted to take him down to the ground, but it didn’t work and it only made the former welterweight title contender vulnerable. Morales took advantage with more strikes and got Burns against the fence. Burns was unable to defend himself from the onslaught of punches and Morales eventually got the win via TKO.
“This was tough work, hard work, always, I’ll tell you what every fight to me is tough and I always feel nervous,” Morales said after the win. “I was actually very, very nervous back there in the locker rooms before [the fight]. I’ll tell you what, they told me trust yourself, trust what you can do, trust your potential. We put in the work and we made it happen.
Morales is now 18 - 0. Burns has now slipped into a four fight skid and is likely out of the top ten rankings. He released his first statement the following day after his devastating loss on Saturday.
Rodolfo Bellato vs. Paul Craig was supposed to co-main event the show, but the bout was cancelled due to a rare medical issue. It turned out to be herpes on Bellato’s end. The announcement team did state that Bellato and Paul Craig will be rescheduled to fight either at UFC Vegas 107 or UFC 316.
Check out the full results below
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET)
- Michael Morales def. Gilbert Burns via TKO (punches) at 3:39, Round 1
- Rodolfo Bellato vs. Paul Craig - canceled
- Mairon Santos def. Sodiq Yusuff via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)
- Nursulton Ruziboev def. Dustin Stoltzfus via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
- Melquizael Costa def. Julian Erosa via unanimous decision (29–28, 29–28, 29–28)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET)
- Gabe Green def. Matheus Camilo via Submission (rear-naked choke) at 3:43, Round 2
- Jared Gordon def. Thiago Moises via KO (punches) at 3:37, Round 1
- Yadier del Valle def. Connor Matthews via Submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:54, Round 1
- Luana Santos def. Tainara Lisboa via submission (Americana) at 4:59, Round 2
- Denise Gomes def. Elise Reed via TKO (punches) at 0:30, Round 2
- HyunSung Park def. Carlos Hernandez via submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:26, Round 1
- Tecia Pennington def. Luana Pinheiro via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)