Winds of change could soon blow through the top of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s welterweight division, as two former title challengers now stand face to face with one another.
Gilbert Burns will lock horns with Stephen Thompson in the UFC 264 co-headliner on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where neither man can afford a setback. Burns, 34, has rattled off six wins across his last seven appearances. However, the Sanford MMA representative finds himself on the rebound following a third-round technical knockout loss to current champion Kamaru Usman at UFC 258 in February. Thompson, meanwhile, bounced back from consecutive defeats to Darren Till and Anthony Pettis with back-to-back victories over Vicente Luque and Geoff Neal. “Wonderboy” has not won three fights in a row since he pieced together a seven-fight winning streak between May 25, 2013 and June 18, 2016.
As Burns and Thompson make final preparations for their high-stakes encounter, a look at some of the numbers that have accompanied them to this point:
34: Years of age for Burns, who was born on July 20, 1986 in Niteroi, Brazil—6,230 miles from Ultimate Fighting Championship headquarters.
8: Burns wins by submission, accounting for 42% of his career total (19). His methods of choice: five armbars and three rear-naked chokes. Burns owns six other wins by knockout or technical knockout and five more by decision.
.811: Cumulative winning percentage between the four men—Usman, Dan Hooker, Michel Prazeres and Rashid Magomedov—who have defeated Burns. They sport a combined record of 90-20-1.
5: Countries in which Burns has competed as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 9-2 in his native Brazil, 7-2 in the United States, 1-0 in Canada, 1-0 in Uruguay and 1-0 in Denmark.
9: UFC bouts in which Burns has executed multiple takedowns. He boasts an 8-1 record in those nine appearances, having lost only to the aforementioned Magomedov.
38: Years of age for Thompson, who was born in Simpsonville, South Carolina, on Feb. 11, 1983. “Tootsie,” “48 Hrs.,” “The Entity,” “Gandhi” and “Sophie’s Choice” were the Top 5 movies at the domestic box office at the time.
7: Thompson victories by knockout or technical knockout, accounting for 44% of his career total (16). His list of victims includes two former UFC champions: Johny Hendricks and Robert Whittaker. Thompson owns one other victory by submission and eight more by decision.
10: Knockdowns landed by Thompson as a UFC welterweight, tying him for third on the promotion’s all-time list at 170 pounds. Only Thiago Alves (13) and Jake Ellenberger (11) have accounted for more.
147: Significant strikes by which Thompson has outlanded his last two opponents. He has connected on 309 such strikes against Neal and Luque while absorbing only 162 in return.
3: Promotions in which Thompson has competed as a mixed martial artist. He has gone 11-4-1 in the UFC, 4-0 in Fight Party and 1-0 in Xtreme Chaos.