UFC 278 Betting Odds For Kamaru Usman vs. Leon Edwards – August 20
The UFC will head to Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah, to host UFC 278, which will be headlined by a title fight in the welterweight division when champ Kamaru Usman takes on the number 2 contender in the division Brit Leon Edwards.
The UFC has recently made it a habit to schedule two title fights for its pay-per-view cards, but UFC 278 will feature just one title fight. Several other interesting fights on this card feature former champs Jose Aldo and Luke Rockhold.
Our MMA experts look at the betting odds for the Main Event along with the Aldo and Rockhold matches before sharing their predictions. Keep reading to see who are experts are betting on to win at UFC 278.
Main Event – Usman vs. Edwards 2
The sport of MMA has snowballed since the COVID-19 pandemic, and many new fans will not realise that this title fight is a rematch. Usman and Edwards fought way back in 2015 in a 3 round fight, and Usman got his hand raised after getting a unanimous decision from the judges.
Since then, Usman has achieved great things in the UFC. He is undefeated in the UFC, has defended his welterweight belt against the best in the division and currently holds the number one spot for the pound-for-pound best MMA fighters in the UFC.
Usman has grown tremendously since his last fight against Edwards, and so has his bank account. The champ goes into this fight confident that he will be able to walk away with another win, but this time even more impressively. Bookmakers currently have Usman as the betting favourite with odds of 2/7.
While Usman has grown, Leon Edwards has also been making a name for himself but less impressively. Edwards sits as the number 2 contender in the division, but his last two fights have not impressed the fans. He fought Belal Muhammad in March 2021, but that was ruled a no contest after he ended up poking Belal in the eye, and he could not continue.
Edwards refused to give Belal a rematch but went on to fight Nate Diaz in a 5 round fight. Edwards won that fight by decision but was on the verge of getting knocked out by Diaz in the final minutes. Edwards goes into this fight as the underdog with odds of 11/4.
We think that both fighters are pretty evenly matched in most areas. While Usman has great wrestling, Edwards has a strong takedown defense. Both fighters have good cardio and good hands. The two areas we think where Usman does have the edge over Edwards is that Usman has KO power in his hands and has a lot of championship experience under his belt. We will bet on Usman to retain his belt and win by TKO.
Aldo vs. Dvalishvili – Betting Odds
Former featherweight champ Jose Aldo is keen on making a run for the bantamweight championship. Standing in his way is the impressive Merab Dvalishvili, who is also keen to establish himself as a number one contender.
Aldo is the favourite with odds of 1/2 as he brings in loads of experience with an MMA record of 31-7, while Dvalishvili is the underdog with odds of 2/1. Dvalishvili is a great wrestler, but his striking has improved a lot in recent times. Dvalishvili is a teammate of current bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling who has spoken about changing weight classes if Dvalishvili establishes himself as the number one contender.
Aldo is a fantastic striker who has shown incredible take-down defence. If the fight plays outstanding, Aldo should win. However, if Dvalishvili can take Aldo to the ground, we expect him to win! We are going to put our money on Dvalishvili to win!
Costa vs. Rockhold – Betting Odds
The former middleweight champ Luke Rockhold returns to the Octagon when he takes on Brazilian Paulo Costa. There is no love lost between these two as this fight has been rescheduled multiple times mainly because Costa was not ready, and that hasn’t gone down well with Rockhold.
The bookmakers have Costa as the favourite with odds of 4/6, while Rockhold is the underdog with odds of 7/4. Costa is coming off two losses, and so is Rockhold, but the big difference is the last fight that Rockhold had was back in 2019 when he went up a weight class and fought Jan Blachowicz at light heavyweight and lost.
Costa and Rockhold go into this fight with a lot of pressure on their shoulders as both fighters desperately need a win! Costa has the edge due to his KO power on the feet, but if Rockhold can get it to the ground, he should win. We will put our money on Rockhold to bounce back and win!
