UFC 278 Fight Card: PPV Schedule, Odds and Predictions for Usman vs. Edwards 2

Kamaru Usman will look to continue dominating the welterweight division while adding to his pound-for-pound resume when he fights Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC 278.

With a three-year title reign that has featured five successful title defenses, he's starting to get to the point where he's already expelled nearly every serious challenger to his belt. Technically, he's already done that with the opponent he'll see in Salt Lake City.

Usman beat Edwards all the way back in 2015 when both were relatively unknown. Neither has lost since that fight. The Brit has fought his way up the rankings and earned his shot at redemption and gold around his waist.

Elsewhere on the card, Luke Rockhold will make his first appearance in the cage since 2019. He's in the co-main event opposite Paulo Costa in a middleweight affair.

Here's a last-minute look at the whole card along with the burning questions that will determine the winner of the biggest fights.

Main Card (ESPN+ PPV, 10 p.m. ET)

• Kamaru Usman (c) (-320; bet $320 to win $100) vs. Leon Edwards (+280; bet $100 to win $280) – for welterweight title
• Paulo Costa (-350) vs. Luke Rockhold (+290)
• José Aldo (+115) vs. Merab Dvalishvili (-135)
• Lucie Pudilova (-125) vs. Wu Yanan (-105)
• Harry Hunsucker (+500) vs. Tyson Pedro (-675)

Prelims (ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)

• Alexandr Romanov (-350) vs. Marcin Tybura (+290)
• Jared Gordon (-265) vs. Leonardo Santos (+225)
• Luis Saldana (+300) vs. Sean Woodson (-365)
• AJ Fletcher (-150) vs. Ange Loosa (+130)

Early Prelims (ESPN+, 6 p.m. ET)

• Amir Albazi (-460) vs. Francisco Figueiredo (+370)
• Aoriqileng (-135) vs. Jay Perrin (+115)
• Victor Altamirano (-170) vs. Daniel Da Silva (+145)

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Kamaru Usman is really bordering on Georges St-Pierre territory these days. GSP was great not only because he won so many fights but because of his ability to win in a variety of ways.

The legend was good enough at wrestling to win a fight with five takedowns, but he also had the boxing to bludgeon someone with his jab on the way to a unanimous-decision win.

Usman came up as a power wrestler who could overwhelm anyone with his takedowns. However, he's evolved to the point where he doesn't have to win that way. For instance, he scored a TKO win over Gilbert Burns without landing a single takedown.

When he needs to, he can go back to that power wrestling background. He had five takedowns in a win over Jorge Masvidal.

This is all bad news for Edwards because it's hard to figure out how he can even win this fight. Edwards is a good kickboxer, but he doesn't necessarily have one-punch power. He is an adequate defensive wrestler, but it might not be enough to keep the fight upright.

It's hard to picture how Edwards can threaten the Nigerian Nightmare despite being a talented fighter.

Prediction: Usman via fourth-round TKO

Aging in MMA can be funny. Some fighters fight into their 40s and never seem to completely fall off before calling it quits.

Others fall off a cliff and things get ugly quickly.

Luke Rockhold is trending toward that latter category. The 37-year-old lost his title to Michael Bisping in June of 2016 and has only fought three times since then. He's lost two of those three fights, with the last coming by knockout against Jan Blachowicz in an attempted move to the light heavyweight division.

Now, Rockhold is coming back to middleweight in what is likely his last chance to remain relevant.

Bouncing back won't be easy. He draws Paulo Costa, who is coming off two losses himself. The Brazilian dropped a title fight against Israel Adesanya and made it two in a row with a loss to Marvin Vettori.

If Rockhold can get Costa to the ground, things could get interesting. But he has to survive long enough to get the fight there.

That doesn't seem likely given Rockhold's recent knockout losses and long layoff.

Prediction: Costa via first-round TKO

Merab Dvalishvili got off to rough start in the UFC. He lost his debut to Frankie Saenz and followed it up with a loss to Ricky Simon. Since then, he's been lights out, though.

The Georgian has a seven-fight win streak going into UFC 278. His high-volume wrestling attack has been too much for the likes of Cody Stamann and Marlon Moraes.

Now, he gets an opportunity to prove himself on an even bigger stage. Dvalishvili fought Moraes on the final fight of the prelims. But now he's getting to face a legend of the sport in the lead-in to the co-main event on a pay-per-view.

For some fans, it will be the first time they see Dvalishvili, so this is a huge opportunity for him to make an impression.

José Aldo has found new life at 135 pounds. He has three consecutive wins over high-quality competition in Marlon "Chito" Vera, Pedro Munhoz and Rob Font.

Still, Aldo hasn't seen a wrestler as good or aggressive as Dvalishvili in a long time. If he can manage to keep it standing he has a good chance to turn the up-and-comer away.

Then again, we haven't seen Aldo take on any grapplers after cutting all the way down to bantamweight.

Prediction: Dvalishvili via decision

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