The
Ultimate Fighting Championship returns to London and brings
with it a highly anticipated championship rubber match between
Leon
Edwards and Kamaru
Usman.
Edwards and Usman both made championship weight by weighing 170
pounds on the dot ahead of UFC
286. The only miss on the 15-fight card was by Malcolm
Gordon, who came in 3.5 pounds over the flyweight limit. As a
result, Gordon has been fined 30% of his purse and his fight
against Jake Hadley
will move forward. In a surprise to both headliners, former title
challenger Colby
Covington hit the scales during the proceedings to serve as the
alternate, checking in at 170 pounds even.
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In the pair’s second fight, Usman (20-2) was seemingly in control
until a shocking head kick sent “The Nigerian Nightmare” into
dreamland. Now champion, Edwards (20-3, 1 NC) is getting to have
their trilogy battle on home soil. The shocking title win capped
off an incredible stretch for “Rocky” that has seen him go
undefeated since 2015 ? and the last person to beat him was Usman,
who did so by unanimous decision.
Usman will be looking to regain the title and show that the
knockout loss was an aberration. Prior to the defeat, Usman hadn’t
lost since 2013, and maintained a perfect 15-0 record inside the
Octagon. Since winning the belt from Tyron
Woodley, Usman had successfully made defenses against Covington
and Jorge
Masvidal twice, plus Gilbert
Burns.
UFC 286 prelims begin early on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on
UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+, then continue on ESPN2 and ESPN+ at 3
p.m. ET/noon PT. The pay-per-view portion then kicks off at 5 p.m.
ET/2 p.m. PT.
UFC 286 Weigh-in Results:
Leon
Edwards (170) vs. Kamaru
Usman (170)
Rafael
Fiziev (156) vs. Justin
Gaethje (156)
Bryan
Barberena (171) vs. Gunnar
Nelson (170)
Jennifer
Maia (125) vs. Casey
O’Neill (125)
Roman
Dolidze (186) vs. Marvin
Vettori (185.5)
Makwan
Amirkhani (146) vs. Jack Shore
(146)
Chris
Duncan (156) vs. Omar
Morales (156)
Yanal
Ashmoz (155) vs. Sam
Patterson (155.5)
Jafel
Filho (125.5) vs. Muhammad
Mokaev (126)
Lerone
Murphy (145.5) vs. Gabriel
Santos (145.5)
Christian
Leroy Duncan (185.5) vs. Dusko
Todorovic (186)
Malcolm
Gordon (129.5)* vs. Jake Hadley
(126)
Luana
Carolina (126) vs. Joanne Wood
(126)
Jai
Herbert (156) vs. Ludovit
Klein (156)
Veronica
Macedo (125.5) vs. Juliana
Miller (125.5)
Colby
Covington (170)**
* Gordon missed weight by 3.5 pounds and has been fined 30% of
his purse.
** Covington weighed in as a backup.