Preview: UFC on ESPN 11 ‘Blaydes vs. Volkov’ Main Card

BURGOS! @HurricaneShaneB stops Amirkhani on home soil in round 3! #UFC244 pic.twitter.com/LY8c0e2rXy

— UFC (@ufc) November 3, 2019

Featherweights

Shane Burgos (13-1) vs. Josh Emmett (15-2)

ODDS: Burgos (-135), Emmett (+115)

As soon as this bout was finalized, it became clear it was the best fight on the card. Emmett was a perfectly fine lightweight through his first year in the UFC, but his decision to cut down to featherweight in 2017 completely changed his career for the better. The increased power Emmett showed 10 pounds down was absolutely shocking. He was not a particularly hard hitter at 155 pounds, but Emmett brutalized Felipe Arantes before scoring a sudden knockout of Ricardo Lamas that established him as a featherweight to watch. A damaging loss to Jeremy Stephens threatened to end Emmett’s featherweight run before it began—the Californian suffered the kind of facial injuries that usually change someone’s career—but he came back as good as ever, scoring two more finishes against Michael Johnson and Mirsad Bektic. Emmett remains a dark horse in a deep division, but a win here against Burgos would raise his profile once more.

Burgos did not make his UFC debut with much hype, but he has established himself as one of the most exciting talents at 145 pounds in the ensuing three and a half years. New York’s “Hurricane” is all about constant pressure and constant exchanges, as he lives for the fight in a way few other fighters do. Burgos would probably be better served to slow down at moments, but it often seems as if he tries to walk the razor’s edge, attempting to slip his opponents’ strikes by as narrow a margin as possible just so he can go back to throwing offense. It feels like that approach should have cost Burgos more by now—his lone loss thus far was to Calvin Kattar—but 2019 wound up being a breakout year thanks to a win over Cub Swanson. When Burgos gets going and can overwhelm his opponent, it is absolutely beautiful to watch, and if he can do so here, he will be ready to join the embarrassment of riches that is the top of the featherweight division.

This should be an excellent fight for however long it lasts, and Burgos should be in the catbird seat for most of it. Burgos throws at a pace few can match, and that certainly includes Emmett, who can be a bit of a one-speed slugger at times. However, even if Burgos is winning the balance of the fight, Emmett has shown that he can be consistent and dangerous over 15 minutes; the Johnson fight in particular stands out as an example where Emmett came back from two tough rounds to adjust and score a finish. The potential for sudden violence should be there for the entire fight, as playing it safe does not seem to be in Burgos’ vocabulary. Again, he seems to thrive on trying to avoid his opponents’ offense as they throw it rather than staying out of trouble in the first place. There is a chance that Burgos’ constant activity wears down Emmett by the end of this fight, but if the Team Alpha Male rep stays cool, he just needs one big punch to end this and should have plenty of opportunities to do so. The pick is Emmett via second-round knockout.

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