Scouting Report: Shane Burgos

Shane Burgos

Born: March 19, 1991 (Age: 32) in Bronx, New York
Division: Featherweight
Height: 5’11”
Reach: 75.5”
Record: 15-3 (0-0 PFL)
Association: Team Tiger Schulmann
Stage of Career: Prime

Summary: Burgos has a straightforward approach to his fights and seeks to turn them into pure striking contests. He has a lot of the necessary tools to do this. He possesses good takedown defense, excels at getting up and features tough defense on the ground. The New York native also has fantastic cardio and a slew of damaging standup weapons. In particular, he has fast hands, a gorgeous jab and quick, powerful and technical hooks from both hands. All his kicks are potent and fast, too. However, when Burgos faces the best of the best, he falls short in terms of defense and durability. He walks down opponents but does so standing right in front of them, with his hands a little low and his chin a little too far forward. Against accomplished strikers like Calvin Kattar, Josh Emmett and Edson Barboza, he wound up getting blasted more often than vice versa.

STRIKING

• Stance: Switches frequently. While naturally orthodox, he is highly effective as a southpaw, only lacking a jab from that position.
• Hand Speed: Well above average.
• Jab: A very fast, sudden and technical punch he likes to throw out over and over.
• Cross: A solid, technical shot, though not especially fast or hard.
• Left Hook: Dips to throw it, but it has a nice, tight arc and proper rotation, along with being fast and seriously powerful. He floored and badly hurt Charles Rosa with it at UFC 210. An added bonus: Burgos can also go downstairs to the body with it.
• Overhand Right: Rarely throws it.
• Right Hook: Similar properties to his left. He can also go to the body with it, as seen in his beautiful finish against Makwan Amirkhani at UFC 244.
• Uppercuts: Solid weapon from the right side. While technical and fast, it lacks a certain degree of power.
• Solitary Striker or Volume Puncher: Sometimes looks for the one big shot; throws small but effective combinations at others.
• Favorite Combination(s): Anything off the jab, with seemingly no preference, whether it be a right cross, right hook or left hook.
• Leg Kicks: Stellar and fast.
• Body Kicks: His use of a nifty, technical and powerful front kick is worthy of attention.
• Head Kicks: Fast and sudden.
• Chains Kicks to Punches: No.

Burgos is a fantastic offensive striker. He has fast hands, can switch stances and has an especially effective jab that he uses as a consistent weapon. Interestingly, he lacks punching power in his right hand but carries plenty in his left, with a jarring, fast and technical left hook. His best and most powerful punch from the right side is his right hook. He throws both hooks to the body. His other punches from the right side, like the cross and uppercut, are still potent but lack a certain degree of power. Additionally, Burgos has fast and technical kicks, especially his front kick to the body. Burgos seemingly has all the elements to win striking contests, but alas, his lack of defense and stylistic approach does not work against fellow accomplished strikers. Burgos stands right in front of opponents with his hands a little low and his head a little too far forward, walking them down and hoping to win toe-to-toe brawls. That works against the vast majority of opponents, but he gets repeatedly blasted by top-shelf strikers and has neither the defense nor chin to make up for it.

CLINCH

• Physical Strength: Satisfactory.
• Technique: His use of the whizzer to stay upright is noteworthy.
• Knees: Decent. • Elbows: Does not throw them.
• Defense Against Knees/Elbows: Blocks well in the clinch and always looks to exit the position. Also uses palm strikes to the ears when an opponent grinds for a takedown.

Burgos tries to nullify all aspects of grappling when he fights, clinch included, and aims to turn battles into purely standup affairs. He is a tall featherweight and uses the whizzer well to avoid being taken down, all while solidly blocking strikes in the clinch. Interestingly enough, he uses palm strikes to the ears—they seem to be effective—when opponents are grinding for takedowns in close quarters.

GRAPPLING

• Wrestling from a Shot: Does not wrestle at all at his current level of competition.
• Wrestling in the Clinch: Non-existent.
• Takedown Defense: Defended against a solid entry by Cub Swanson but allowed him to get a standing rear body lock—a position a more skilled grappler would have exploited. Burgos was hit with an arm drag by Amirkhani too, but he defended all subsequent attempts. Leans on the whizzer to stay upright.
• Ability to Return to Feet: He features an especially effective, technical wall walk that he relies upon frequently.
• Submissions: Looks only to strike at his current level, but he threw up a nice armbar from his back and drew the tapout from Kurt Holobaugh at UFC 230.
• Defense/Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from the Bottom: The Amirkhani fight in particular showed how well Burgos defends and scrambles out of a plethora of guillotine and anaconda choke attempts.
• Top Control: Impossible to say since Burgos only finds himself the after he has dazed an opponent while standing.
• Ground-and-Pound: Exceptional in the rare instances when he finds himself there, with fast, hard punches aimed at the body and head.

Burgos’ grappling is mostly defensive, with him looking to turn fights into pure striking contests. He has sound takedown defense, due in large part to his effective use of the whizzer and his ability to wall walk back to an upright position. If kept on the ground, however, he is also adept at scrambling out of danger, even against skilled grapplers, and throwing up solid submission attempts of his own. Burgos has yet to be defeated by grappling alone. Burgos has fantastic ground-and-pound through which he can brutalize opponents but seldom uses it.

INTANGIBLES

• Athleticism/General Physical Strength: Powerful enough to hold his own and carries average explosivity for his current level.
• Cardio: Actually increased his intensity and energy at the end of Round 3 against Swanson, then did the same in a high-paced fight against Amirkhani, breaking the Finnish grappler with his conditioning and forward pressure. When he has received an accumulation of blows to the head, he has proven vulnerable to follow-up strikes. Two of his three losses have resulted in knockouts.
• Chin: Weathers weaker blows, but he can be hurt when opponents connect cleanly. His durability is not always good enough for the brawling toe-to-toe style he employs.
• Recuperative Powers: He has proven he can recover from being badly hurt and from multiple knockdowns, but like all fighters, his body has its limits.
• Intelligence: Fights effectively as a brawler trading punches and takes advantage of opportunities, but appears unable or unwilling to operate outside of that style. Burgos has not yet addressed his defensive flaws.