Clay Collard vs. Shane Burgos 2023 PFL 9 Odds, Time, and Prediction

The Collard vs. Burgos fight is a semifinal duel of the 2023 PFL Lightweight tournament, the winner of which will take on either Olivier Aubin-Mercier or Bruno Miranda in the battle for the $1 million prize later this year.

Clay Collard vs. Shane Burgos Odds

*Odds taken from BetUS on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

When, Where, and How to Watch?

• Place: The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY
• Date: Wednesday, August 23
• Time: ~9:50 p.m. ET
• How to Watch: ESPN/ESPN+

Clay Collard is One of the Best Strikers in PFL

Clay Collard is 23-10-1 overall with 11 of his 23 wins happening by KO/TKO. Now a 30-year-old, his No. 1 focus was wrestling during his teenage days. However, once his professional MMA career started, he started practicing boxing in order to add striking to his game. And it worked! His first four wins in MMA happened by KO/TKO.

Further, at one point in the mid-2010s, he was in desperate need of money in order to fix his car, so he agreed to take part in a boxing tournament, which proved to be a great idea. Collard won on his debut, then went on to win another eight boxing fights, while also losing six and drawing three.

His most recent boxing bout took place on Christmas 2021, but since, he’s been back to only fighting MMA fights. This year, he’s fought twice already, beating Yamato Nishikawa by unanimous decision and Stevie Ray by TKO. 

Shane Burgos Fighting Only His 3^rd Lightweight Fight Ever

Shane Burgos is 16-4 overall, but most of his fights happened in the featherweight division. Since moving up to the lightweight division earlier this year, he’s 1-1. On his debut in the 155lb division, he lost to  Olivier Aubin-Mercier by unanimous decision. Two months later, however, he defeated Yamato Nishikawa the same way.

Now, he’s facing a much tougher opponent. In fact, this could be the toughest fight of his career, despite the fact that he used to fight in the UFC in the past. The thing is that Collard is bigger and more powerful than many of Burgos’s UFC opponents.

Clay Collard vs. Shane Burgos Prediction

This is going to be a real war as both fighters are likely to go all-in on Wednesday evening. Collard is stronger with more damaging strikes, but Burgos has a better fight IQ and is more technical than him. That said, we predict that Collard vs. Burgos will go the distance, but which fighter will win the judges’ votes? We think it’s going to be Collard as he’s bound to create more damage.

Pick: Clay Collard to win by decision