Robert Whittaker explains why he's backing underdog Burns to beat Brady at UFC Vegas 97 this weekend
09/02/2024 03:02 AM
After a rare week off, the UFC officially returns to our screens this weekend for a Fight Night card at The Apex in Las Vegas, headlined by welterweight contenders Gilbert Burns and Sean Brady.
Whilst American Sean Brady is indeed the favorite over the former welterweight title challenger, that isn't to say that there aren't members of the MMA community who are picking 'Durinho' to score an upset victory this weekend.
Gilbert Burns faces Sean Brady in the main event of UFC Vegas 97
Fan favorite welterweight contender Gilbert Burns returns to action this weekend, hoping to put a stop to his recent two-fight skid when he takes on 16-1 wrestler Sean Brady.
Burns has had a decidedly tough time of late, dropping a razor-close decision to Khamzat Chimaev and bouncing back with two impressive wins of his own, before running into Belal Muhammad and Jack Della Maddalena in his last two bouts.
Brady also suffered the same fate as Burns in his October 2022 bout against Muhammad, albeit ending in a more violent fashion, before winning his comeback fight against Kelvin Gastelum in December 2023 – his most recent fight in the promotion.
Robert Whittaker makes early underdog prediction for Burns vs Brady
Breaking down this weekend's main event fight via the MMArcade Podcast, former UFC middleweight champion Robert 'The Reaper' Whittaker revealed that he's siding with underdog Burns to get the upset win in Las Vegas.
The Australian started his explanation by noting that whilst he was obviously in the corner of fellow Aussie Jack Della Maddalena, Gilbert Burns was indeed winning that fight before suffering the dramatic stoppage late into the third round.
"Obviously, I'm going to go for the Aussie because he's one of us, [but] I will say, Jack was probably losing that fight until the knockout, [he] landed that knee with that never-say-die-attitude, but Burns wasn't slow in that fight, he looked good.
"He's [Burns] been better than we saw in that fight so I'm curious to see how that lines up against Brady who historically, has been pretty good, but Gilbert hits like a truck."
Whilst Brady isn't particularly well-known for his knockout power, having not yet scored a KO/TKO win in the UFC to date, his strength instead lies in the grappling – with three submission victories in the promotion, including a third-round Kimura against Kelvin Gastelum.
Yet the man standing across the octagon is certainly no slouch on the ground either; in fact, Whittaker believes that 'Durinho' is amongst the best grapplers in the history of the UFC.
"I think Gilbert Burns is one of the best MMA grapplers of all time, he's phenomenal at grappling, period – but in terms of MMA grappling, he's one of the best of all time.
"The loss against Belal, he tore his shoulder cuff; it was in the first [round] he did it and it was an ugly fight from then on and he had also rushed to get into that fight, three- or four-week quick turnaround… And then with the JDM fight, he was winning until he took a knee to the dome, right?"
As aptly pointed out by co-host Johnny Roses, UFC fans are quick to forget that Burns stepped in to face the now-welterweight champion on short notice, coming just 28 days after his decision win over Jorge Masvidal.
Between the grappling and the experience of fighting at championship level, Whittaker ultimately concluded that he'll be backing Burns to get the upset win this weekend: "My money's on Burns but crazier things have happened."
Gilbert Burns vs Sean Brady goes down this weekend, live from the UFC Apex in Las Vegas on Saturday, September 7.
