UFC Long Island is home-field advantage for Shane Burgos
Shane Burgos at UFC Long Island media day on July 13, 2022. Credit: Newsday/Mark LaMonica
Shane Burgos is not contractually obligated to fight on every UFC event the promotion brings to New York. It only looks that way.
“It’s way less stressful, I feel like I've had my best performances in New York,” Burgos said at UFC Long Island media day on Wednesday. “Because I'm so laid back on fight week.”
UFC Long Island at UBS Arena on Saturday will be the 14th UFC event in New York since the state legalized mixed martial arts in March 2016. This will be the seventh time Burgos, who was born in the Bronx and now fights out of Monroe, has fought in his home state. He’s 6-0 so far.
“This is going to be 7-0 and make it a clean sweep,” Burgos said.
Burgos goes for his 15th win overall when he faces Charles Jourdain in a featherweight bout on the main card at UBS Arena. The main card starts at 2 p.m on ABC, with prelims beginning at 11 a.m. on ESPN and ESPN+.
Burgos is one of two fighters on the card with New York metro area roots — Dwight Grant grew up in Brooklyn — but he’s the one who is more closely associated with the area. He said it was a little “weird” to find out he’s the lone local flavor.
“I feel like maybe they didn't know they were going to be in Long Island because there’s a ton of fighters from Long Island,” Burgos said. “I’m surprised I’m the only one, but I'll take that on the back and I'll represent the New York.”
Jourdain said he won’t be bothered by any sort of home crowd advantage for Burgos.
“If they boo me if they love me, I don't mind,” he said, “as long as they're there, they show up and they give us energy.”
Burgos (14-3) is known for his exciting and punishing style, not afraid to take a punch to give a punch.
“I never faced someone who pushes the pace as much as him. Nobody laughs when they get hit by Josh Emmett. This guy laughs,” Jourdain said. “So yeah, he's a very scary man.”
Jourdain (13-4) is on a two-fight win streak and has won three of his last four since March 2021. That includes a win by TKO, submission and unanimous decision. Twelve of Jourdain’s wins have come by stoppage.
“I dropped a lot of guys with my left hand and if I hit him right on the jaw and he starts smiling, I'm like, OK, keep it composed and keep doing that as much as I can,” Jourdain said. “He wants to break you mentally. He doesn't want to break you technically, he just wants to be in your face and make you feel like you don't want to be there.”
What are the odds?
Amanda Lemos is ranked 11th in the UFC women’s strawweight division. Her opponent, Michelle Waterson, is No. 10. For a larger numerical disparity between the co-main event fighters, let’s look elsewhere. Lemos (11-2-1) is the biggest betting favorite on the 12-fight card, with odds ranging from -315 to as high as -390 as of Wednesday afternoon. Waterson (18-9) is in the +250 to +280 range, the largest underdog.
UFC quick jabs
The welterweight fight between Phil Rowe (injury) and Abubakar Nurmagomedov (visa issues) was pulled from the card Tuesday night, leaving 12 fights on the full card. . . . “I was celebrating on top,” Brian Ortega said about Alexander Volkanovski escaping his submission attempts in their fight last September. “I was just waiting for the tap, and it never came.” . . . Lauren Murphy said she’s feeling better after a bout with COVID-19 forced her fight with Miesha Tate to be rescheduled from UFC 276 earlier this month to UFC Long Island. “I had ample time to recover and now I feel great.” . . . “Uh, it’s a fist fight,” Matt Schnell (15-6) said of his fight against Su Mudaerji. “I don’t get excited anymore.”
Mark La Monica is a deputy sports editor at Newsday. He also covers mixed martial arts.
