Gilbert Burns of Brazil reacts after defeating Mike Davis during their lightweight bout at UFC Fight Night. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Gilbert Burns heaped praised on Neil Magny for fighting Shavkat Rakhmonov, even though he had nothing to gain from it
Neil Magny fought undefeated, minacious fighter Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC Vegas 57. Although he was in a comfortable spot in the pound-for-pound rankings, he accepted a much more difficult challenge against a fighter ranked below him.
In the co-main event, Shavkat Rakhmonov continued to embark on his brilliant undefeated run, and extended his record to 16-0. With this submission victory against a top-ranked fighter like Neil Magny, Shavkat now has 16 finishes in his 16 fights. He utilized his wrestling to takedown Magny, and established dominant top and side control for the entirety of the first round. Magny defended extremely well from the bottom showing tons of experience, even managing to land a few good up kicks.
The second round proceeded similarly, but with less than 10 seconds left in the round, Magny tried to scramble back to his feet, which left his neck open. Shavkat jumped on the opportunity, and sunk in a tight guillotine, forcing a tap from Magny in the closing seconds. The undefeated fighter called out Stephen Thompson for his next fight.
UFC welterweight fighter Gilbert Burns faced a similar situation when he fought another undefeated prospect Khamzat Chimaev at UFC 273. Although he lost the fight, his stocks never went down, owing to a fight-of-the-year-worthy display that enthralled fans.
Reacting to Magny’s loss Burns said, ‘Shout out to @NeilMagny we all know the fight didn’t went his way, but we gotta give him a credit, nothing to win at that fight but he took the fight anyways! I support and appreciate this decision when the challenge is big and not a lot rewards but we fight anyways! ✊🏾🧠💪🏾’
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