Leon edwards just shocked the arena. The “rocky” tale of edwards came to life with a come-from-at the back of, head-kick knockout past due in round 5 of the principle event of ufc 278 on saturday night time. After turning into the primary individual to score a takedown on the nearly perfect champion in round 1, edwards struggled inside the following rounds to build any type of momentum. Usman took over the combat with his advanced wrestling and slung heavy boxing combinations and appeared on his manner to but some other name defense as he neared anderson silva’s file for maximum all time.
Usman’s tempo slowed in spherical 5, but it turned into probable leading toward a unanimous decision win for the champ as edwards appeared defeated in his corner as his team begged him to come back to existence in the final spherical. Suddenly, edwards flicked out a right jab and fired up a left head kick that knocked usman out bloodless at four:04 of round five.
“pound-for-pound. Headshot. Useless,” edwards advised ufc commentator joe rogan during his publish-fight interview. “i said all week i felt like this is my second. The whole lot that happened within the beyond. The last two years, the pandemic. There’s no ring rust. I informed you, now look at me now.”
edwards improved to twenty-three (1 nc) with the win over usman. His undefeated streak advanced to 11. Usman saw his 19-combat triumphing streak snap inside the blink of an eye and suffered his first loss in 9 years. It turned into the fourth modern finish in a championship combat — just seconds short of usman’s own end of colby covington in 2019. Usman remained positive about his destiny. The previous champion took to twitter and promised to return with a vengeance. Ufc president dana white, during a submit-fight press convention with the media, insisted on a trilogy. White counseled wembley as a venue and expressed his choice to see the rubber match in england.
“i notion that usman fought the best fight,” white said. “you believe you studied of the entirety that was on the road for usman tonight. Usman fought with absolute and general self assurance all night time. It may not be the most fan-friendly fashion but he became landing big shots to the frame, large photographs to the head and elbows. He could not have fought a greater ideal combat till the remaining minute.”
edwards is confident that ufc lovers had yet to look the high-quality of him. Edwards stated that his worst performance nonetheless caused a knockout over the quality that usman had to provide.
“that turned into one in every of my worst performances out there,” edwards said at the presser. “i did no longer experience right in there tonight. I went out there and knocked out the pound-for-pound.
“my body just wasn’t reacting how it changed into intended to react. I don’t know if it was the altitude or what it turned into. However even backstage looking different combatants on the television, all of us became getting worn-out and gassing out. Like luke [rockhold] and all and sundry. I was questioning why all of us changed into tiring out. After the first round, i felt it. I felt my body wasn’t reacting. It wasn’t a cardio trouble, it become extra like my frame wasn’t physically reacting.
“that changed into the best he needed to provide. That was the worst i had to provide and i nonetheless knocked him out.”
edwards additionally expressed an interest in fighting masvidal in the u. Ok. Must “gamebred” get returned to his prevailing ways. Plus, paulo costa and rockhold battled over 15 grueling mins before costa was declared the winner. Rockhold left everything he had within the cage, together with smearing his blood in costa face within the final moments of the fight. And merab dvalishvili asserted himself atop the pile of contenders at bantamweight with a thorough win over jose aldo, however don’t assume him to be going through his pal and teammate — present day titleholder aljamain sterling — any time quickly as the native of georgia shut down any of that communicate immediately after the combat. Cbs sports became with you the entire way on saturday bringing you all of the effects and highlights from the ufc 278 beneath. Ufc 278 card and outcomes
leon edwards (c) def. Kamaru usman thru fifth-spherical knockout (head kick)
paulo costa def. Luke rockhold thru unanimous choice (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
merab dvalishvili def. Jose aldo thru unanimous selection (29-28, 29-28, 30-27)
lucie pudilova def. Wu yanan through second-spherical tko (elbows)
tyson pedro def. Harry hunsucker thru first-spherical tko (punches)
marcin tybura def. Alexander romanov via majority selection (29-28, 28-29, 28-28)
jared gordon def. Leonardo santos via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
sean woodson vs. Luis saldana dominated a break up draw (29-27, 27-29, 28-28)
ange loosa def. A. J. Fletcher through unanimous choice (29-27, 29-28, 29-28)
amir albazi def. Francisco figueiredo thru first-spherical submission (rear-bare choke)
aori qileng def. Jay perrin thru unanimous choice (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
victor altamirano def. Daniel da silva via first-round tko (punches)