At Vivint Arena, the UFC held its first-ever pay-per-view event in Utah, with incumbent welterweight champion Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman defending his championship against No. 2 contender Leon “Rocky” Edwards in a highly anticipated rematch of the last bout Edwards lost.
The second-longest winning run in UFC history and the longest active winning streak were both broken by Leon Edwards with a single kick, transforming the organization into what it is today. The reigning welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, never anticipated it.
In front of a packed house at Vivint Arena on Saturday night, Edwards submitted top-ranked Usman with 56 seconds left in the fifth round of UFC 278. This ended the champion’s 16-match winning run and extended Edwards’ current 11-match winning streak.
The main event of Utah’s first-ever pay-per-view UFC fight featured the pound-for-pound finest fighter of the modern age, or at least that’s what he would have been dubbed had he tied Anderson Silva’s UFC record of 16 consecutive victories. When Edwards’ leg touched Usman’s face at that point, the 20-1 Nigerian Nightmare was knocked to the ground.
The UFC’s visit to Vivint Arena proved to be the most profitable for the promotion, with an announced attendance of 18,321 and a live gate of $4,297,655. Following an action-packed event, UFC officials announced the figures. Besides, No. 6-ranked middleweight Paulo Costa upset former middleweight champion, Luke Rockhold, in his long-awaited comeback to the Octagon.
In the first-ever pay-per-view event in Utah’s UFC history, Paulo Costa’s victory over Luke Rockhold was chosen as the event’s Fight of the Night, while Leon “Rocky” Edwards’ upset of top-ranked welterweight Kamaru Usman was named the event’s Performance of the Night at Vivint Arena.
