Saturday night marks one of the best UFC Betting cards of the year. Consider that UFC 278 has seven ranked combatants in the ten main event matchups. Most important of all is the main event. Defending welterweight champion Kamaru Usman will face challenger Leon Edwards. Also ranked is #6 Paulo Costa against Luke Rockhold in a middleweight bout. #3 Jose Aldo faces #6 Merab Dvalishvili in a bantamweight matchup. While #11 Marcin Tybura faces #13 Alexandr Romanov in a heavyweight pairing. ESPN+ will provide complete coverage of the main card and welterweight championship.
UFC 278 Usman vs. Edwards Main Card
| Date and Time: | Saturday, August 20, 2022, 10 p.m. ET |
|---|---|
| Location: | Vivint Arena, Salt Lake City, Utah |
| TV Coverage: | ESPN+ |
Welterweight Championship Bout
| Fighter | Odds |
|---|---|
| Kamaru Usman | -330 |
| Leon Edwards | +275 |
Kamaru Usman has a career sports betting record of 20-1. While Leon Edwards is 19-3-0 with one no contest for his career.
Kamaru Usman has defended his welterweight championship belt five times. At the onset, he won the welterweight title in a unanimous decision on March 2, 2019. Last time out, Usman defeated Colby Covington by unanimous decision on November 6, 2021. It was the second time that Usman successfully defended his belt against Covington. Additionally, he won title bouts against Jorge Masvidal, Gilbert Burns, and Jorge Masvidal.
Last time out, Leon Edwards scored a unanimous decision win over Nate Diaz on June 12, 2021. That followed a no-contest against Belal Muhammad on March 13, 2021. Saturday marks the first championship bout for Edwards.
Middleweight Bout
| Fighter | Odds |
|---|---|
| Paulo Costa | -295 |
| Luke Rockhold | +245 |
Overall, Paul Costa has a career mark of 13-2. Luke Rockhold is 16-5 for his career.
Of great concern is that Paul Costa dropped his last two bouts. Costa is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Marvin Vettori. Before that, he lost a 2nd round technical knockout to Israel Adesanya on September 27, 2020. As a result, Adesanya won the UFC middleweight championship.
In like manner, Luke Rockhold has lost two straight bouts and three of his previous five matchups. Rockhold is coming off a 2nd round knockout loss to Jan Blachowicz on July 6, 2019. While on February 10, 2018, he lost a 3rd round knockout against Yoel Romero. Rockhold is best known as a former UFC middleweight champion.
Bantamweight Bout
| Fighter | Odds |
|---|---|
| Jose Aldo | +105 |
| Merab Dvalishvili | -125 |
Jose Aldo has a career record of 31-7 with the UFC Betting odds. At the same time, Merab Dvalishvili stands at 14-4 for his career.
Late on, Jose Aldo won three straight bouts. Previously he lost the three fights before that. Aldo is coming off a unanimous decision win over Rob Font On December 4, 2021. Correlate that Aldo is a former longtime UFC featherweight champion.
Heavyweight Bout
| Fighter | Odds |
|---|---|
| Marcin Tybura | +300 |
| Alexandr Romanov | -365 |
Marcin Tybura has a career record of 22-7. By contrast, Alexandr Romanov is 16-0 for his career.
Light Heavyweight Bout
| Fighter | Odds |
|---|---|
| Tyson Pedro | -740 |
| Harry Hunsucker | +540 |
Tyson Pedro has a career record of 8-3. Counter to that is Harry Hunsucker at 7-5 for his career.
UFC 278 SBG Free Picks
In this situation, Kamaru Usman has a record that can’t be ignored. He has a proven track record of defending championships.
UFC 278 SBG Best Bets: Kamaru Usman.