Leon
Edwards is the new
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion after
upsetting Kamaru
Usman in the main event of UFC
278.
Usman (20-2) would manage to get the fight to the ground early in
the first round, although the challenger popped to his feet shortly
afterward. Shockingly, Edwards (20-3, 1 NC) would trip the champion
and land straight into mount. After taking the back of the “The
Nigerian Nightmare,” Edwards would begin looking for a rear-naked
choke. Usman would survive the rocky round but not without a solid
scare by the challenger.
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The champion would come out firing in Round 2, although Edwards
stayed composed and was never overwhelmed by the pressure. “Rocky”
would slow the pace down, with some help from an eye poke, and then
went back-and-forth with Usman in a grappling exchange. Usman would
start landing damaging elbows and capped off a solid second frame
in his favor with a takedown of his own. Usman would repeat this
strategy in the third and cement himself in full control.
Edwards began to fade in the fourth round as Usman got the fight to
the ground with ease. While the British fighter would work back up
to his feet, a fence grab noticed by Herb Dean would
lead to it being reset. Usman would end the round on the feet,
hurting Edwards with a combination of punches. The final frame
would see Usman in control until a shocking and perfectly placed
head kick landed for Edwards. Usman was instantly out and a new
champion was crowned. The stoppage came at 4:04 of Round 5.
EDWARDS KNOCKED OUT USMAN 😱
#UFC278 pic.twitter.com/RWYU2n3lap— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter)
August 21, 2022
“Rocky” hasn’t lost a fight since 2015 and now is 1-1 against
Usman.
Costa Outduels Exhausted Rockhold
Former UFC and Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke
Rockhold‘s return didn’t go as planned against Paulo
Costa.
While Rockhold (16-6) wisely tried to take the fight to the ground,
it took less than a minute for Costa (14-2) to rock the
37-year-old. Costa would take Rockhold down and achieve mount
position, cementing a solid first round. Tired and bloodied,
Rockhold would come out firing in the second round with kicks.
Costa would come forward and believe he won via TKO but Rockhold
went down due to a punch that hit low. After the fight was
restarted, Rockhold would work well from a distance while Costa
would get into range and work the body.
“Borrachinha” would come out firing in the third round as both the
Brazilian and Rockhold stung each other with punches. Rockhold
would hurt Costa several times down the stretch but simply didn’t
have the energy to finish the fight. A sloppy takedown attempt
would allow Costa to take the back of Rockhold, who would reverse
position with 25 seconds left. Rockhold would rub blood in Costa’s
face, which was an incredible moment, but not enough to win the
round.
ROCKHOLD RUBBED HIS BLOOD ON COSTA 😦
#UFC278 pic.twitter.com/I1CeGGkUWz— ESPN MMA (@espnmma)
August 21, 2022
After 15 grueling minutes, Costa would receive the unanimous
decision with scores of 30-27 across the board. Rockhold would then
retire inside the cage, sharing an emotional moment with Joe
Rogan.
Dvalishvili Outworks Aldo
A pivotal bantamweight clash saw former featherweight king Jose Aldo take
on rising contender Merab
Dvalishvili.
A close Round 1 would see Dvalishvili (15-4) land more volume than
Aldo (31-8) on the feet, though the Brazilian landed the harder
shots. Dvalishvili would fail to secure any takedowns in Round 2
with the takedown defense of “Scarface” looking as solid as ever,
but it was enough to largely nullify the offense of Aldo. Simply
the busier fighter, Dvalishvili would continue pressing forward,
although he failed to ever put the veteran in any danger. All three
judges would score the fight for the Georgian fighter with scores
of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.
While Dvalishvili would take the decision, he was 0-15 on takedown
attempts.
Pudilova Punishes Wu
Lucie
Pudilova moved up the women’s bantamweight rankings by
defeating Yanan Wu.
Pudilova (14-7) would have a strong first frame by taking down Wu
(13-6) and controlling most of the first five minutes. “Bullet”
would get the back of Wu in Round 2 but couldn’t finish the
rear-naked choke attempt. However, a series of elbows would put
away the Chinese fighter at 4:04 of the second round.
Pudilova is now 3-5 inside the UFC.
Pedro Outclasses Hunsucker
Tyson
Pedro was completely dominant against an overmatched Harry
Hunsucker in the main card’s opening bout.
A snapping jab hurt Hunsucker (7-6), who then retreated. A nicely
placed kick to the body would drop Hunsucker and Pedro (9-3)
followed with punches until the fight was stopped. The fight was
officially stopped at 1:05 in the first round.
Pedro has won back-to-back UFC fights.
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