Julio Arce bounced back from his last loss with a big finish over Herbert Burns at UFC Atlantic City on Saturday.
After trading wins and losses for his last 8 fights, Arce moved back up to featherweight for this one, where he promptly missed weight. Still, his 5-4 record in the UFC coming in was impressive. Burns, jiu-jitsu specialist and brother of Gilbert, was 2-2 in the promotion, having not fought since 2022, and looked to bounce back from a two-fight losing streak where he gassed out and got finished in round two both times.
Herbert stalked forward as Arce circled to open up the first round. Burns shot and failed a takedown fifty seconds in. Arce got behind his stuff southpaw jab and fought his way off the fence after that. He got accidentally kneed in the groin when Burns clinched up, which paused the bout for a bit, but was quickly good to go. Herbert clinched up again and Arce defended it well but once again got kneed in the cup, prompting Gary Copeland to take a point from Burns due to committing the same foul twice in a few moments. Arce landed some good punches to the body and defended a takedown again; this time Burns did not even try to knee him when they were in the clinch. Herbert Burns telegraphed one final takedown which failed, prompting him to pull guard moments before the round concluded.
Burns started round two much better, with a few explosions stunning Arce. However when Herbert clinched up, Arce turned the tables and dropped him, but refused to enter the BJJ expert’s guard. Arce began to gain momentum and stalk forward. Burns’ body language worsened and he even turned his back when Julio hit him with a barrage of punches against the fence. The referee watched closely and when Herbert went down, the referee stepped in.
With that result, both men continued their streaks, as Arce improved to 6-4 in the UFC and the Tiger Schulmann MMA shouted fighter got his first finish since 2021. If he can make weight then he has a bright future in this division.
Official Result: Julio Arce def. Herbert Burns by TKO (punches), Round 2, 2:00
