Kamaru Usman vs. Leon Edwards 2 is a fight seven years in the making. The two streaking welterweights meet at UFC 278 as the promotion touches down at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Usman and Edwards met for the first time in December 2015 on the early prelims of a Fight Night card. Usman won via unanimous decision and continued his warpath to welterweight supremacy. Edwards quietly evolved into one of the most complex puzzles at 170 pounds. Usman and Edwards now headline UFC 278 as champion and title challenger, respectively.
The card also features two former UFC champions: middleweight Luke Rockhold and bantamweight Jose Aldo. Rockhold returns from a three-year layoff to fight the incredibly powerful Paulo Costa. Aldo must thwart Merab Dvalishvili’s absurdly high takedown attempts if he wants to re-enter the title conversation after running the featherweight division for so long.
How to watch UFC 278 prelims
Date: Aug. 20 | Location: Vivint Arena — Salt Lake City
Time: 8 p.m. ET (6 p.m. for early prelims)
Channel: ESPN | Stream: fuboTV (Try for free)
How to watch UFC 278 main card
Date: Aug. 20 | Location: Vivint Arena — Salt Lake City
Time: 10 p.m. ET
Stream: ESPN+ PPV | Price: $74.99
That’s to take nothing away from Leon Edwards’ long list of achievements, of course. Rocky has only lost twice within the company, to Claudio Silva and Usman himself early on in his professional MMA career. Given that the former was unstoppable at this time, and the latter still has to be taken down, that’s still a feat to be commended. Edwards enters the Octagon a year after his last appearance following a decision victory against the tough-as-nails Nate Diaz, so tonight’s result could be far closer to call than anticipated.
Edwards hasn’t lost since that meeting with Usman in December 2015, posting eight straight victories that included wins over Vicente Luque, Donald Cerrone, and Rafael Dos Anjos before missing all of 2020. He returned to action early last year, starting well before his bout with Belal Muhammad was halted due to an inadvertent eye poke before collecting a unanimous decision win over Nathan Diaz at UFC 263 in June.
Saturday marks Rockhold’s first appearance in over three years as the former middleweight champion looks to show he’s still got something left to offer and perhaps put himself in the title conversation. He’s fought just thrice since losing the belt to Michael Bisping at UFC 199 but appears to have used the time away to get refocused on his craft, deal with some lingering injuries, and commit himself to trying to chase down a championship opportunity once more.
There are so many ways this fight could play out, but all of them are entertaining, and the majority of them leave the victor in the thick of the title chase in the 185-pound weight class. Fights like that are always worth tuning in for and this one should be no different.