Kevin Burns

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC Career
4 Mixed martial arts record
5 Gallery
6 External links

Profile

Kevin Burns (born March 3, 1980) is an American professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu jitsu purple belt under Carlos Henrique Elias.

He stands 6 ft. tall and fights in the welterweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Kevin Burns made his professional mixed martial arts debut on August 19, 2006 against Demi Deeds. He defeated Deeds via TKO at 3:58 of round 1.

A little under four months later, Burns notched up a submission victory (armbar) to go along with his TKO victory as he submitted Matt Delanoit in the first round.

In February of 2007, Burns suffered his first professional loss as his corner threw in the towel after a two round battering from Jason High.

Two months later, Burns bounced back with a first rear naked choke victory over Sean Westbrook at a GFC event.

In December, he submitted another opponent, Steve Schneider, this time by triangle choke before obtaining the Victory Fighting Championships welterweight title with a KO over Bobby Voelker.

UFC Career

On short notice, Burns was called up on short notice to replace an injured Ryo Chonan in a bout with highly regarded Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, Roan Carneiro on the undercard of UFC 85 in England. Burns shocked the MMA world as he not only defeated Carneiro but managed to submit the accomplished grappler with a triangle choke in the second round. The victory earned Burns a $50,000 "Submission of the Night" bonus.

Burns was called up again for a shorter than usual notice for a fight, when he was matched up with Anthony Johnson at UFC Fight Night 14. An event put together on short notice in order to directly counter program Affliction Entertainment's inaugural foray into mixed martial arts promotion, Affliction: Banned.

In a controversial bout that was ended in the third round when Johnson was dropped by an ugly looking eye poke from Burns. The fight was ruled a TKO victory for Burns although the replay clearly showed the illegal blow. Referee Steve Mazzagati was not in position to see the blow land but later admitted his error. Johnson appealed the decision but was turned down due to lack of remedy. Burns later commented that the reason for all the eye pokes in the fight was due to his inability to close his left hand thus having to throw it like an open palm strike.

In an effort to settle the controversy, Burns and Johnson were matched up again, this time at The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale. The first two rounds mirrored the first fight, minus the eye pokes. The third round did not go the same as the first fight however as a lightning quick kick from Johnson collected Burns upside the head and left him cold on the mat.