UFC 278 Preview

Good evening ladies and gentleman, we are in for another epic night of fights on Saturday, August 20. UFC 278 will be taking place in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Vivint Arena. This fight card is pretty solid from top to bottom. The main card features a title fight as the #1 pound-for-pound fighter on the planet Kamaru "The Nigerian Nightmare" Usman (20-1) defends his Welterweight Championship in a rematch against Leon Edwards (19-3) and former Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold (16-5) will be returning against Paulo Costa (13-2), in a huge fight at middleweight. Before we witness this fight card on Saturday August 20, I wanted to share my thoughts and predictions on each fight.

Kamaru Usman vs Leon Edwards

I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like this fight is going to live up to epic proportion. This fight displays martial arts at its finest, both men carries a unique set of skills and are currently the best two welterweights on the planet. Although this is a rematch taking place 7 years later, both men have improved significantly and I expect this fight to be a five round war. In their first fight, Kamaru beat Edwards by decision when both fighters were early in their respective careers. Usman displayed dominant wrestling, which neutralized the striking of Edwards. Since then, Leon Edwards has gone unbeaten and has earned his right to fight for the Welterweight Championship, while Kamaru has became a dominant champion and the #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. The question going into this fight is, will Usman be able to implement his wrestling or will Edwards be able to keep the fight standing? Don't get me wrong, Kamaru's striking has improved by a significant margin, displaying brutalizing knockouts over Jorge Masvidal, Colby Covington, and Gilbert Burns. Since moving down to Colorado with Trevor Wittman, he has gained the ability to keep it standing against some of the best knockout artists in the world. On the other hand, Leon Edwards displays some of the best striking in the division. His weakness was always wrestling, which is why he lost to Usman the first time. Since that loss, he has cleaned up his wrestling and turned into a great all-around fighter. He has went to the ground with Gunnar Nelson, RDA, and Cowboy just to name a few. Although Leon's wrestling has improved, I doubt he would want to go to the ground with Usman, knowing how dominant he is on the ground. Leon has put together a dominant win streak since losing to Kamaru the first time, but Kamaru is a whole different beast. The gameplan is simple, Leon wants to pick apart Usman from the outside, and Usman wants to display his dominance with his wrestling. I am a fan of both fighters and expect nothing but an excellent fight between the two. With that being said, I have a feeling that we will be hearing "And..........Newwww"! Yes, I think Leon Edwards is going to shock the world.

Prediction: Leon Edwards by Decision

Paulo Costa vs Luke Rockhold

The return of Former Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold is upon us. The only thing is that, he's returning against scary knockout artist Paulo Costa. This is Rockhold's first fight on three years, after suffering a plethora of knockouts. A number of people in the MMA community believe that Rockhold's chin is gone and I can't blame them, considering the fact that he was on the wrong side of some of the most memorable knockouts in UFC history. On the other side, we can't skip over the fact that Rockhold's skillset is about elite as it gets as a fighter. He has good striking to go along with his excellent jiu-jitsu, which is why he was the best Middleweight fighter on the planet at one point in time. His only hole in his game was that he would always leave his chin up with his hands down, as he was leaving the pocket causing him to get knocked out. On the other hand, Costa possesses crazy power and is looking to knock your head off with each strike. Make no mistake about it, Costa is coming in there to put Rockhold to sleep. If Rockhold doesn't fix his defensive issues, his return will surely be spoiled. I feel that Rockhold has more tools in the toolbox to win this fight, he just has to stay patient. Paulo Costa is more of a one-trick pony, but he still manages to win and is a former title challenger. Luke Rockhold must win this fight or retire because of brain damage, he can't afford to continue to take this much damage. I must admit, I was a huge Luke Rockhold fan years ago, but I must admit that I'm not confident that Rockhold can get the job done. This fight comes down to which fighter is able to implement their respective gameplan. Luke will be looking to pick him apart from the outside and taking him down once he comes close, while Costa will be looking to march forward and put Rockhold to sleep. We shall see what happens on Saturday night!

Prediction: Luke Rockhold via 2nd-Round Submission