UFC: Woodley vs. Burns fight card and odds

UFC Fight Night 173: Woodley vs. Burns takes place this Saturday, May 30.

Here’s the full UFC card for this event, with odds for all main card fights and prelim fights:

Main Card

• Tyron Woodley (-190) vs. Gilbert Burns (+165)
• Blagoy Ivanov (-105) vs. Augusto Sakai (-115)
• Daniel Rodriguez (+195) vs. Kevin Holland (-235)
• Brok Weaver (+260) vs. Roosevelt Roberts (-320)
• Hannah Cifers (+345) vs. Mackenzie Dern (-430)

Prelims

• Antonina Shevchenko (-140) vs. Katlyn Chookagian (+120)
• Billy Quarantillo (-155) vs. Spike Carlyle (+135)
• Jamahal Hill (-130) vs. Klidson Abreu (+110)
• Brandon Royval (+150) vs. Tim Elliott (-170)
• Casey Kenney (-275) vs. Louis Smolka (+235)
• Chris Gutierrez (-120) vs. Vince Morales (+100)

UFC Fight Card Preview: Woodley vs. Burns

Although the UFC continues to run events amid the pandemic, it hasn’t been smooth sailing by any means. International fighters have been significantly impacted by travel restrictions and domestic events all need to follow strict social distancing guidelines meaning that fighters are now isolated in hotels and UFC staff has been limited to the bare minimum.

Events are currently being exclusively hosted in the United States and that means the promotion has needed to rely on fighters currently based in the country for now. 

And that means although the last UFC cards have been stacked with fantastic fights, the fight cards are now seemingly out of steam.

This Saturday’s event is headlined by Tyron Woodley vs. Gilbert Burns, which is a brilliant welterweight fight but the rest of the card leaves much to be desired.

Tyron Woodley vs. Gilbert Burns preview

Tyron Woodley returns to the UFC octagon for the first time since losing his welterweight title to Kamaru Usman in March 2019. “The Chosen One” had previously racked up an unbeaten streak that lasted through seven fights and four years but was completely embarrassed the challenger at UFC 235.

Usman moved forward and smothered Woodley from the opening seconds of the fight until the very end of the bout and earned a unanimous decision victory to take the title. The stunning result led many to wonder if Woodley had become disinterested in mixed martial arts and more engaged in his career as a rapper instead. But analysts with an understanding of both Usman and Woodley were well aware that it was merely a stylistic nightmare for the champion at the time.

Woodley won the title from Robbie Lawler in 2016 after finishing him with his renowned right hand. Woodley feinted with his left hand and moved into range where he could land the punch right on Lawler’s chin and send him crashing back into the cage. A flurry of punches on the ground earned Woodley the belt.

The way Woodley won this fight speaks volumes as not just to his ability but also his most clear pathway to victory. If anything, Woodley is overreliant on connecting with that right-hand punch. When it lands, Woodley is immediately in a position to end the fight, but when it doesn’t land -- against Usman, for example -- he can sometimes be left without a way to win.

Against Till, he was able to take him down and earn a submission win, but that’s going to be extremely unlikely against Gilbert Burns.

Burns, a former IBJJF World Champion and IBJJF No-Gi World Champion, enters the fight with elite jiu-jitsu ability. Although his submission grappling skills are far beyond the skills of many of his opponents to date, he’s never particularly needed to rely on his grappling to win fights.

This is an incredible contrast to Demian Maia, a former foe of both Burns and Woodley. Maia, who is respected as the most dangerous submission grappler in the UFC, ultimately needs to get a hold of his opponent to work his submission game and earn a finish. 

Maia couldn’t take Woodley down and was subsequently defeated on the feet. Maia attempted to take Burns down, as well, but Burns was able to scramble well enough to avoid being submitted before eventually knocking Maia down with a left hook to end the fight.

And while Burns enters this UFC card on the back of brilliant success such as the TKO finish of Maia, Woodley has been missing since losing to Usman last year.

Burns’ well-rounded mixed martial arts ability could cause serious problems for Woodley who can find himself mentally challenged in fights that present such inherent risks everywhere inside the cage.

But, on the other hand, Woodley’s sublime right hand is more than enough to stop any fighter, and we’ve seen that against the ever-tough Robbie Lawler once before.

Will Woodley return to winning ways or is it time for another contender to join the already-busy ranks at the top of the welterweight division? We’ll find out this Saturday at UFC Fight Night 173.

Main Card

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