VIDEO: Usman went down and fell for the first time in the UFC! Pudilova won, the legendary Aldo was embarrassed. What did UFC 278 look like?

UFC 278 took place on Sunday morning. The main card in particular was very enticing even by the names. It offered interesting fights, Kamaru Usman defended the title, Lucie Pudilova, who returned to the organization after more than two and a half years, was also present. How did the tournament go?

Early Prelims and Prelims

There were seven fights before the main card of UFC 278. However, these were fairly drawn out, with only two not ending on points. All the while, things started off promisingly for fans of early finishes when the very first bout didn’t even last four minutes.

Ironically, the duel of the men’s scales ended so soon. Victor Altamirano managed to defeat Daniel Da Silva.

Aoriqilenga and Jay Perrin followed. The former won by unanimous decision. The third bout of the tournament ended the same way as the first in the first round. But it lasted a little longer. At 4:34, Amir Albazi pinned Francisco Figueiredo on a submission.

All the other bouts were decided by point judges. AJ Flether lost a unanimous decision to Ange Loosa, Sean Woodson earned a draw with Luis Aldana (29::27, 28::28, 27::29), Leonardo Santos lost a unanimous decision to Jared Gordon, and Marcin Tybura took a decision from Alexander Romanov.

Main Card

Pedro and Pudilova and their winning comebacks

On the main card, just like at the beginning of the tournament, the first finish was not long in coming. It came after just one minute and five seconds and was taken care of by Tyson Pedro. He returned to wrestling this year after almost three and a half years and scored his second win in a row.

He beat Harry Hunsucker on Sunday morning. The match was decided by a front kick, after which he only had to “finish” his opponent.

The expected return of Lucie Pudilova followed. Her opponent was Wu Yanan and the Czech fighter was the favourite. She confirmed this role. In the first round she showed great control on the ground, although she was quite passive in the number of punches.

In the second round, however, Pudilova was on fire. She didn’t score the first rear-naked choke, but she must be happy with the TKO win. Important win.

The Georgian poisoned not only the legend, but the fans as well. Costa and Rockhold entertained

Jose Aldo had three straight wins before the tournament. Another win could have brought him closer to a title fight. But it wasn’t going to happen. The legendary Brazilian was no match for Merab Dvalishvili. But the Georgian has annoyed not only Aldo, but also the fans.

Aldo lost on points. He was threatening in the stand-up, especially in the first round. However, Dvalishvili wanted to prove he was a takedown machine and the fight looked like it. Well, not very attractive. The Brazilian defended all 16 takedown attempts.

It wasn’t enough to win. In the third round, it was clear that the 35-year-old Aldo was running out of breath and there was nothing to worry about. Aldo still boasts a 31:8 record, while Dvalishvili improved his record to 15:4.

As the previous fight might have annoyed the fans, it was completely different in the fight between Paul Costa and Luke Rockhold. Costa had a great entrance, he shook Rockhold early and the fight seemed to have a quick ending. But Rockhold was able to hold his own in the tough moments. But he looked tired after the first five minutes.

Yet in the second round, it was he who was able to get his opponent in trouble. Rockhold was mainly trying to kick, Costa was again the one pushing and looking to create the fight. You could tell who was in better shape. Still, it was something to watch. Even in the third round where Costa did the impossible.

Rockhold showed heart again. Despite his poor condition, he gave his all in every punch and was still a threat. But it wasn’t enough to win. Costa looked better throughout the fight and scored a well-deserved victory. Rockhold announced his retirement after the fight.

Usman has fallen sensationally!

Kamaru Usman had another title match. After seven years, Leon Edward got his long-awaited rematch. Since his loss to Usman in 2015, he had only notched up wins and one undefeated match. In total, he has dominated 9 fights.

Traditionally Usman was the favourite, however there was almost a big surprise in the first round. Edwards became the first man in the UFC to take a champion to the ground. It took 16 fights before anyone did.

Edwards took Usman’s back. He tried to put on a choke. But Usman fought back and took the second round in a different style. He landed some hard and dangerous shots, but it was obvious he didn’t want a repeat of the failed first five minutes.

The third round was clearly Usman’s to lose. He made virtually no mistakes. He was wringing his opponent, depriving him of his strength and mental well-being. And it was no different in the fourth five minutes, which was again dominated by the reigning champion.

Edwards had to go into the fifth round with a clear objective. If he wanted to win, he had to stop Usman. But for a long time it didn’t look like anything was going to change in his favor. But with a minute to go, Edwards landed a hell of a high kick and Usman went down. No more punches needed.

Usman lost for the second time in his career and Edwards scored the win of his life. Nevertheless, a rematch was imminent. Edwards’ performance was not the most convincing. Anyway, hats off to him. Now Usman will have to focus on other things than challenging Jiri Prochazka.

Source: UFC, Twitter