UFC 278 Main Card Preview

UFC 278: Usman vs Edwards 2

Main-Card Preview - 5 Talking Points

             1. Kamaru Usman has fought Leon Edwards before, but that was 7 damn years ago, so let’s throw that out. Edwards hasn’t lost since that fight and before that, lost once by split decision. His other loss I hesitate to mention, was an illegal knee, so he beat himself there. The way I see it, his record is 19 - Usman. This fight is all about the long hard journey Edwards has suffered to get here. Can he channel all the good chi to defeat his old rival? 

            My guess is there might not be enough good chi in the universe to make that happen. Usman is on a world beating win streak and hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down. His striking looks better than ever and his fight I.Q. elevates every time he steps into the octagon. As a pure striking match, I might give the nod to Edwards. As an mma fight, the gap starts to widen in favor of the champion. Usman has a huge grappling advantage and mixes it well with his strikes to change the tempo and set up his opponents for blunt force trauma. As we saw with his ‘feint left, right hand over the top’ bludgeoning of Jorge Masvidal. This fight might just be another tick on the Usman highlight reel. Or Edwards might get lucky and catch him slipping in round 1. Gilbert Burns almost did and Edwards is arguably a better pure boxer. So what the heck do I know? Let’s see what happens. 

            2. So there’s this guy, he’s pretty cute, but I can’t tell if I’m turned off by the fact he got KO’d and kissed by Yoel Romero. Also he was cut from ‘The Bachelorette’. So many things to consider, but you probably want to know more about his potential as a fighter than a lover, I don’t blame you. He was on top of the world in 2015 when he took the title from Chris Weidman. That vibe didn’t last long. Since then he’s been KO’d by Michael Bisping, the aforementioned Yoel Romero and former H.W. Champ Jan Blachowicz. All finishes, all brutal. 

            Now he’s fighting the vino lush himself, Paulo Costa, who has also seen much better days. My initial reaction to this fight booking was, “but for why”. After much thoughtful ignorance and reminiscing of said better days, I’ve decided, screw the semantics. Costa looks shredded and Luke is fired up over… everything. These guys can really bang bro, who are we to prevent their impending collision? We are nobody. So let’s butter our popcorn, burden our couches and just appreciate some good old fashioned violence. 

            3. Ladies & Gentleman, boys and girls, put your hands together for… Merab Dvalishvili. No, I didn’t sneeze, that’s his actual name. He’s a hot damn machine, just ask Marlon Moraes or John Dodson. He put those guys through the meat grinder, more accurately he got the kitchen sink thrown at him by Marlon, but then came back from the cold grip of near unconsciousness to grind out Marlon by death from a thousand slow n’ steady hammer fists. Apparently 7 wins in a row aren’t enough to satiate this man.

            He’s back for more, taking on the seemingly immortal legend that is Jose Aldo. On a 3 fight win streak, Aldo has out-pointed Chito Vera, Pedro Munhoz and most recently Rob Font. In hindsight, that Chito win is holding up really well. If Aldo can stave off the relentless pressure of Merab, he should be able to piece him up on the feet. That being said, Merab is hungry like the wolf and the idea of getting a win over Aldo may entice him to a degree of savagery human eyes have yet to behold. 

            4. She’s from Eastern Europe, her nickname is the ‘Bullet’. You know her, you love her. No, not Valentina Shevchenko. I’m talking about Lucie Pudilova. Duh. She did fight Valentina’s sister though, then was cut from the promotion. Since then she’s rattled off 5 wins in her last 6 fights in Oktagon MMA. In her return to the UFC she’s fighting Yanan Wu, who is stumbling herself on a 3 fight skid. With momentum on her side and a second chance at relevancy, can she make the most of her opportunity? Wu really needs a win, so she won’t be a pushover. This should be exciting. 

            5. The PPV curtain jerker, Tyson Pedro vs Harry Hunsucker. What to say of this fight? Tyson got KO’d by Shogun Rua in 2018, not a great look. Harry Hunsucker more recently got KO’d by two large Australians. Now he’s moving down in weight to take on Mr. Pedro, because as you know, going down a division always fixes things. Right Kenny Florian? The UFC brass probably moved this fight to the main card opener to fire things up with a knock out. So here we go!