UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman puts his seven-year, 15-fight winning streak in the UFC on the line in a rematch against Leon Edwards, who has won eight-straight fights himself since a loss to Usman via unanimous decision in 2015.
It’s the main event of UFC 278, which is taking place this Saturday in Salt Lake City, Utah.
UFC Welterweight Championship: (C) Kamaru Usman (20-1-0) vs. #2 Leon Edwards (19-3-0, 1 NC)
Usman, the top-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in all of MMA, hasn’t been in the octagon since a victory via unanimous decision over Colby Covington last November. Prior to that, he defeated Jorge Masvidal in April 2021 via a spectacular round 2 knockout.
Usman hasn’t been taken down in 15 UFC fights, and he also has a 76-inch reach that he used to his advantage in the Masvidal fight. He used his wrestling skills to keep Edwards at bay in their first fight, which ended in a win via unanimous decision for Usman.
A win on Saturday would tie him with Anderson Silva for second on the all-time UFC consecutive wins list with 16, which would put him one behind Jon Jones (who hasn’t fought since 2020) for the lead.
Edwards’ last win was in mid-2021 when he defeated Nate Diaz by unanimous decision. He was supposed to fight Masvidal last December, but that was called off by the Masvidal camp due to injury. He also has wins over Rafael dos Anjos, Gunnar Nelson, and Donald Cerrone in his eight-fight win streak.
Usman, as noted, as never been taken down, so he will be expected to put his grappling advantage to use in this fight. A win by Usman via the scorecards seems more likely than a finish, if you want to bet the kind of win.
Here are the odds for the fight via BetMGM.
Fight Result | By KO/TKO/DQ | By Submission | By Decision | |
Kamaru Usman | -400 | +175 | +2000 | -120 |
Leon Edwards | +310 | +550 | +2000 | +700 |
Middleweight Bout: #6 Paulo Costa (13-2-0) vs. Luke Rockhold (16-5-0)
The semi-main event features the return to the octagon of Luke Rockhold, who hasn’t competed in three years. Paulo Costa is looking to get back into the middleweight title picture after losing a championship fight to Israel Adesanya before also dropping his debut at light heavyweight to Marvin Vettori via the judges’ scorecards.
He drops back to middleweight to face Rockhold, who hasn’t fought since a knockout loss to Jan Blachowicz, which was also in the light heavyweight division. The 37-year-old has lost three of four, defeating David Branch but losing to Yoel Romero and Michael Bisping.
Prior to the back-to-back losses, Costa racked up 13-straight wins, 12 of which came via a finish. Rockhold will be the sentimental favorite, but we expect Costa to get back on track with a finish here against a fighter who’s six years older and trying to knock off the rust.
Here are the odds for the fight via FanDuel.
Fight Result | By KO/TKO/DQ | By Submission | By Decision | |
Paulo Costa | -340 | +160 | +2200 | +500 |
Luke Rockhold | +250 | +1100 | +850 | +550 |