Can Edwards push a pace on Usman?

Zane Simon & Connor Ruebusch are back to break down this week’s UFC PPV event in Salt Lake City, UT. With picks and odds for every fight on the card. From Kamaru Usman vs. Leon Edwards 2 in the main event for the UFC Welterweight Championship, down to Victor Altamirano vs. Daniel da Silva in the opening prelim.

The UFC is back with their latest PPV offering and it’s… fine, I guess? Leon Edwards has certainly earned the right to rematch Kamaru Usman, it remains to be seen whether he can make it an interesting bout this time around or not. Jose Aldo vs. Merab Dvailishvili is a certified war with title implications. The rest of the PPV bookings seem either decidedly one-sided or lackluster in their name value.

June M. Williams

For fans interested in diving deeper into the undercard, however, check out the Prelims Vivi below.

The MMA Vivisection is brought to you by ‘The Fine Art of Violence’, a collection of art and essays recapping the year in MMA by Chris Rini, featuring the most talented artists and writers in Mixed Martial Arts. The book is available in both hard copy and digital formats at chrisrini.com.

Here’s a look at the UFC 278 fight card as it stood at the time of recording:

ESPN+ PPV CARD | 10pm/7pm ET&PT
Kamaru Usman vs. Leon Edwards 2 — At 2:43, Odds 34:15, Picks, Both: Usman
Paulo Costa vs. Luke Rockhold — At 34:25, Odds 43:09, Picks, Both: Costa
José Aldo vs. Merab Dvalishvili — At 44:16, Odds 59:30, Picks, Zane: Dvalishvili, Connor: Aldo
Lucie Pudilová vs. Wu Yanan — At 59:44, Odds 1:08:13, Picks, Both: Pudilova
Tyson Pedro vs. Harry Hunsucker — At 1:09:01, Odds 1:15:48, Picks, Both: Pedro

ESPN/ESPN+ PRELIMS | 8pm/5pm ET&PT
Marcin Tybura vs. Alexandr Romanov — At 1:14, Odds – Skipped, Picks, Both: Romanov
Jared Gordon vs. Leonardo Santos — At 6:38, Odds 11:30, Picks, Both: Gordon
Sean Woodson vs. Luis Saldaña — At 12:32, Odds 21:05, Picks, Both: Woodson
Miranda Maverick vs. Shanna Young — At 21:55, Odds 26:32, Picks, Both: Maverick

UFC FIGHTPASS EARLY PRELIMS | 6pm/3pm ET&PT
AJ Fletcher vs. Ange Loosa — At 27:26, Odds 41:10, Picks, Both: Loosa
Amir Albazi vs. Francisco Figueiredo — At 41:48, Odds 47:39, Picks, Both: Albazi
Aoriqileng vs. Jay Perrin — At 47:59, Odds 55:29, Picks, Both: Qileng
Victor Altamirano vs. Daniel da Silva — At 57:15, Odds 1:03:12, Picks, Zane: da Silva, Connor: Altamirano

For those of you following the picks made on the show, we started tracking them with the July 13th, 2020 Vivisection shows for UFC Fight Island 1: ‘Kattar vs. Ige’.

So far, here are the overall standings:
UFC San Diego: Vera vs. Cruz — Zane went 7/13 for 54% last week, while Connor actually led with 10/13 for 77%.
Overall stats from UFC Fight Island 1 through UFC San Diego — Zane is now at 694/1077 for 64.4% and Connor is now at 654/1077 for 60.7%.
Stats so far for 2022 — Zane is at 225/340 for 66.1% and Connor is at 212/340 for 62.3%.
Stats for 2021 — Zane went 305/493 for 62% and Connor went 285/493 for 58%.
Stats for July-Dec 2020 — Zane went 164/244 for 67% and Connor went 157/244 for 64%.
Reference: Vivi Picks Stats_8.18.22.pdf

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