Saturday marks the end of the UFC’s 13-week summer schedule, as UFC 278 blows into Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, UT, headlined by a welterweight championship clash between dominant champion Kamaru Usman and deserving challenger Leon Edwards.
The previous dozen weeks have delivered myriad memorable moments, including a new champion emerging at light heavyweight, a former champion regaining her title at bantamweight, a handful of bouts that deserve to be in the Fight of the Year discussion and a collection of highlight reel finishes, including Marlon Vera’s walk-off knockout of Dominick Cruz last week.
And this weekend’s fight card has the makings of one that will add more entries to those various lists and close out this incredible run in style, as Saturday’s Pay-Per-View event not only features a compelling title fight to close out the show but an assortment of intriguing fighters to pay close attention to before that as well.
As always, we’ve got you covered with all you need to know about tomorrow night’s card.
FIGHTER TO WATCH: MIRANDA MAVERICK
Maverick won her first two UFC fights to extend her overall winning streak to five and establish herself as one of the top young talents in the flyweight division. She then dropped consecutive decisions to Maycee Barber and Erin Blanchfield, fellow emerging threats that passed her in the divisional hierarchy as a result.
Those losses might be the best thing that could have happened for the 25-year-old Virginia native, as they forced her to make some changes and allowed her step out of the spotlight.
Maverick has since shifted her training camps to Denver, Colorado, where she works with the Elevation Fight Team and the collection of talented woman training in the surrounding area, including former title challengers Raquel Pennington and Lauren Murphy. She looked outstanding in her first appearance of the year against Sabina Mazo, submitting her in the second round, and enters Saturday’s matchup with Shanna Young with zero fanfare or focus, which is great.
Losses don’t stifle careers in MMA the way they do in boxing. If handled correctly, they can be key building blocks and markers along the road to a long, successful career, and it appears like Maverick has handled her setbacks in the best way possible.
She remains one of the top young talents in the 125-pound weight class and should affirm that once more this weekend.
FIGHTER TO WATCH: ALEXANDR ROMANOV
Romanov is an undefeated, 31-year-old heavyweight from Moldova who has earned victories in each of his first five UFC appearances and faces his first stern test in Polish veteran Marcin Tybura.
While he hasn’t exactly been matched with a killer thus far in his UFC career, Romanov has done what you want to see an intriguing, ascending fighter do against the type of guys he’s faced — he’s dominated, earning four finishes through his first five fights, and breaking into the Top 15 in the process.
This bout with Tybura is the entrance exam he needs to pass in order to start facing Top 10 competition; a date with a seasoned veteran with a complete arsenal of skills that won’t be as easy to dominate as some of his previous opponents… at least he shouldn’t be… and that’s what makes this such a compelling fight.
Tybura has lost once in his last six fights, and while he’s 9-7 in the Octagon, he’s never been an easy out, which is why how this one goes will tell us a great deal about Romanov, his current place in the division, and what kind of future he could have in the big boy ranks.
FIGHTER TO WATCH: JOSE ALDO
It might seem strange for me to be advocating for you to pay close attention to the greatest featherweight of all-time and a two-time former UFC champion, but here we are nonetheless.
After losing his first two fights at bantamweight, Aldo has rebounded with three straight victories to set up this clash with streaking wrestler Merab Dvalishvili, who enters having earned seven consecutive wins. He out-foxed Marlon Vera at the end of 2020, and then out-worked both Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font last year to put himself right back in the thick of the chase in the bantamweight division, and if he beats “The Machine,” the 35-year-old Brazilian legend will be looking at No. 1 contender fight.
That seemed impossible following his loss to Petr Yan in the summer of 2020 on Fight Island, but Aldo has rallied, and deserves your attention this weekend.
FIGHTER TO WATCH: LUKE ROCKHOLD
Prior to his bout with Michael Bisping at UFC 199, Rockhold had won 14 of his previous 15 fights, winning and successfully defending the Strikeforce middleweight title before matriculating to the UFC, losing his debut to TRT-era Vitor Belfort, and then winning five straight to claim UFC gold as well.
During that stretch, the Californian was one of the best fighters on the planet — a smooth, fluid striker with elite grappling skills, a healthy dose of swagger and bravado, and the results to back it up. But he lost that fight and his title to Bisping in Los Angeles, and then his final two outings before taking a three-year sabbatical that ends on Saturday when he steps in with Paulo Costa in the co-main event.
Rockhold has said all the right things in the preamble to Saturday’s penultimate contest — he’s healthy, recommitted to his craft, ready to make one last run — and if he’s anywhere near the guy that ascended to the top of the middleweight division in the past, he’s capable of beating Costa and potentially making another run.
But he’s 37 now, hasn’t fought in a little over three years, and got knocked out violently in his last two outings before pressing pause on things.
Next to Rockhold’s long-time teammate Khabib Nurmagomedov, Father Time is the only other entity to pass through this sport undefeated, and it will be interesting to see what the former champion actually has left in the tank when he makes that walk this weekend.
UFC WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: KAMARU USMAN VS. LEON EDWARDS
While this is technically a rematch, it’s tricky thinking about the main event in those terms because the first contest took place a shade under seven years ago, and each man has changed dramatically.
Usman was making his second UFC start at the time, while Edwards was three fights into his run inside the Octagon. They were babies, and while it was an entertaining fight that can’t be thrown out completely in advance of their meeting this weekend, this isn’t the same as Usman running it back quickly with Colby Covington or Jorge Masvidal.
This should be a different fight, and has Fight of the Year potential, depending on how it plays out.
Neither man has lost since that first encounter in December 2015 — the 35-year-old Usman adding seven more victories to earn a title shot before winning the belt and successfully defending it five times to give him a perfect 15-0 mark in the UFC, while Edwards has nine victories and one No Contest verdict in the ensuing years.
The champion has added a clean, crisp, powerful jab and far more advanced, developed boxing to his arsenal to compliment his elite wrestling. Edwards has become a more complete threat, implementing offensive grappling of his own to accompany his long-range weapons and sharp elbows in close.
Usman is chasing history, as a victory will bring him level with Anderson Silva for the most consecutive victories in UFC history.
Edwards is looking to join Michael Bisping as the second fighter from England to claim UFC gold.
Stylistically, it’s a compelling matchup that could play out any number of ways, and the additional narratives and storylines tethered to the bout only up the ante and increase the intrigue.
This opportunity is a long time coming for Edwards and one Usman has never seemed overly eager to chase down, so it will be interesting to see which of them is able to rule the night and leave the Octagon with welterweight gold resting on their shoulder.
