The UFC’s trip to Salt Lake City in August is continuing to grow, with multiple fights announced by the promotion on Monday.
UFC 278 will take place at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on August 20, 2022, headlined by a welterweight title fight featuring Kamaru Usman putting his title on the line against Leon Edwards. In addition to the main event, previously reported bouts including Jose Aldo vs. Merab Dvalishvili, and Paulo Costa vs. Luke Rockhold, also feature.
Monday’s additions, announced via press release, include a heavyweight showdown between Marcin Tybura (22-7) and undefeated Russian Alexandr Romanov (18-0), lightweight action in the form of Leonardo Santos (18-6-1) against Jared Gordon (18-5), and the returning Lucie Pudilova (13-7) taking on China’s Wu Yanan (12-5).
AJ Fletcher (9-1) will take on Ange Loosa (8-3) at welterweight, and Amir Albazi (14-1) will fight Francisco Figueiredo (13-4-1) in a flyweight match-up.
Plenty of eyes will be on Romanov, who will be getting his toughest test yet against Poland’s Tybura. Romanov recently broke into the top 15 in the heavyweight division, and currently sits at #13 in the UFC’s official rankings. Tybura is ranked tenth in the weight class.
Women’s bantamweight Pudilova competed for the UFC from 2017 to 2020 before being released. She’ll return to the organization after going 5-1 under the Oktagon MMA banner.
The following fights have been reported for the UFC 278 card:
- Kamaru Usman (c) vs. Leon Edwards – For the UFC Welterweight Championship
- José Aldo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
- Luke Rockhold vs. Paulo Costa
- Tyson Pedro vs. Harry Hunsucker
- Amir Albazi vs. Francisco Figueiredo
- Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Romanov
- Leonardo Santos vs. Jared Gordon
- Wu Yanan vs. Lucie Pudilova
- Daniel Lacerda vs. Victor Altamirano
- Aori Qileng vs. Jay Perrin
- A.J. Fletcher vs. Ange Loosa
- Sean Woodson vs. Luis Saldana
