The stage is set in Salt Lake City for a pound-for-pound king title fight, a featherweight legend and a highly anticipated middleweight showdown – the first UFC PPV event in the Beehive state.
Welterweight champion and No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Kamaru Usman, looks for a sixth straight title defense on Saturday night in Vivint Arena. Usman has held the 170lb belt since March of 2019. With a win in SLC, Usman would tie Anderson Silva for the most consecutive wins within the UFC(16). The most consecutive title defenses is 11(Demetrious Johnson).
Kamaru Usman looks to defend his title vs Leon Edwards, the second meeting of the two.
A sixth straight title defense at Welterweight would give Usman the sixth longest streak in UFC history
Johnson(11)
Silva(10)
GSP(9)
Jones(8)
Shevchenko/Aldo(7) #UFC278— Porter Larsen (@Larsen_ESPN) August 18, 2022
No. 2 welterweight Leon Edwards enters the fight winning nine consecutive, his last loss coming all the way back in 2015… against Kamaru Usman. The rematch caps off a night of intriguing matchups.
- Luke Rockhold returns to 185lbs — where he once held the crown — for a matchup with recent title contender Paulo Costa. Rockhold has only fought 4 times since his 2016 title loss to Michael Bisping. Costa began his career 13-0 and got a title fight of his own, a TKO loss to current champion Israel Adesanya.
- Jose Aldo faces off with Merab Dvalishvili in a compelling bantamweight matchup between two hopeful title contenders. Aldo is riding a three-fight winning streak since losing his belt to Petr Yan. Dvalishvili enters on a seven-fight winning streak of his own. Both fighters are on the verge of title contention – TJ Dillashaw and Aljamain Sterling meet for the championship in September.
- Heavyweight Alexandr Romanov looks to stay unbeaten against Marcin Tybura as both fighters look to make their way into the top 10.
UFC 278 FULL CARD / ODDS
Odds via Caesars Sportsbook
- No. 1 Kamaru Usman (c) -380 vs. No. 3 Leon Edwards +300, welterweight championship
- No. 6 Paulo Costa -330 vs. Luke Rockhold +260, middleweights
- No. 7 Merab Dvalishvili -125 vs. No. 4 Jose Aldo +105, bantamweights
- Lucie Pudilova -150 vs. Wu Yanan +125, women’s bantamweights
- Tyson Pedro -800 vs. Harry Hunsucker +550, light heavyweights
- No. 13 Alexandr Romanov -450 vs. No.12 Marcin Tybura +350, heavyweights
- Jared Gordon -300 vs. Leonardo Santos +240, lightweights
- Sean Woodson -340 vs. Luis Saldana +270, featherweights
- Miranda Maverick -550 vs. Shanna Young +400, women’s flyweights
- A.J. Fletcher -160 vs. Ange Loosa +135, welterweights
- No. 12 Amir Albazi -410 vs. Francisco Figueiredo +320, flyweights
- Aori Qileng -165 vs. Jay Perrin +140, bantamweights
- Victor Altamirano -190 vs. Daniel de Silva +160, flyweights
