Bloody Elbow presents its fight week coverage when Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards (20-3), current UFC Welterweight Champ, defends his title agains No. 2 ranked ‘Nigerian Nightmare’ Kamaru Usman (20-2), in what will be their trilogy match on Saturday, March 18th, from the O2 Arena in London, England. UFC features this title fight headlining their massive action-packed 15-bout UFC 286 PPV (pay-per-view) event.
In their first meet-up at UFC on FOX 17 on July 18, 2015, Edwards lost via Unanimous Decision. Last go around, was just at UFC 279 on August 20, 2022, when Usman lost the belt to Edwards via Head Kick in the fifth round. ‘Rocky’ hopes to hang on to the belt and secure his second victory over Usman, proving himself to be the more dominant welterweight. Meanwhile, Usman intends to get his belt back, for his second victory, proving the same thing.
Our co-main event consists of a Lightweight tilt when No. 7 ranked fight veteran and American fan favorite, Justin ‘The Highlight’ Gaethje (23-4) goes to war with No. 5 ranked streaking up-and-comer, Tiger Muay Thai specialist, Rafael ‘Ataman’ Fiziev (12-1), representing Kyrgyzstan.
Stick with bloodyelbow.com for all the previews, predictions, coverage, odds, & more, right here!
UFC 286’s main PPV card of five bouts airs live on ESPN+, with a start time of 5/2PM ETPT, which are preceded by four Featured Prelim bouts airing at 3/12PM ETPT on ESPN2/ESPN+, and six Early Prelims on UFC FightPass at 1PM/10AM ETPT. Odds for this 15-bout card at: DraftKings Sportsbook.