By The Numbers: UFC 278

Leon Edwards was destined to lose a decision — until he wasn’t.

“Rocky” authored one of the most shocking knockout victories in the history of the sport, removing Kamaru Usman from the welterweight throne with less than a minute remaining in the UFC 278 headliner at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Saturday night. Edwards’ head kick will undoubtedly go down in history, not only because it ended Usman’s 15-bout UFC winning streak, but it came just before the Brit was going to lose a clear-cut unanimous decision.

Here is a by-the-numbers look at UFC 278, with statistics courtesy of UFC Stats.com.

11: Welterweight champions in UFC history after Edwards joined the group with his shocking knockout of Usman.

4:04: Time of Edwards’ fifth-round knockout of Usman. That makes it the fourth-latest finish in UFC championship history behind the following: Demetrious Johnson over Kyoji Horiguchi at UFC 186 (4:59); Jiri Prochazka over Glover Teixeira at UFC 275 (4:32) and Usman over Colby Covington at UFC 245 (4:10).

28: Significant strikes by which Usman outlanded Edwards in defeat. That checks in as the greatest significant striking deficit of Edwards’ UFC tenure. Usman also held a 189-to-64 edge in total strikes landed.

5: Takedowns landed in 12 attempts for Usman, who also logged 10:36 of control time to his opponent’s 2:55.

1: Takedown landed in five attempts for Edwards, making him the first person to successfully ground Usman in 16 Octagon appearances.

46: Significant distance strikes for Usman. Edwards was close in this category, landing 42 at range. Usman racked up a bigger advantage at in the clinch and on the ground, combining for 37 significant strikes to Edwards’ 13.

73: Significant strikes landed by Paulo Costa in a three-round verdict over Luke Rockhold in the evening’s middleweight co-main event. The Brazilian outlanded his opponent 27 to 19 in Round 1, 30 to 23 in Round 2 and 16 to 9 in Round 3.

2: Takedowns landed in two attempts for Costa, who had been credited with one takedown total in seven previous UFC appearances.

1,141: Days since Rockhold’s last Octagon appearance, a second-round KO loss to Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239 on July 6, 2019.

7: Consecutive bantamweight victories for Merab Dvalishvili, tying him with reigning champion — and teammate — Aljamain Sterling for the longest active winning streak in the division. Dvalishvili won a grinding unanimous verdict over Jose Aldo on Saturday.

16: Takedowns successfully defended in 16 attempts for Aldo. While he did a good job remaining upright, the Brazilian was outlanded by a 135-to-59 count in total strikes. Dvalishvili also logged 5:06 of control time to Aldo’s none.

.560: Significant striking accuracy for Aldo, who was accurate but didn’t throw in great volume in landing 38 of 67 attempts. Dvalishvili was much more active with 147 significant strike attempts, but he landed 57 for a 38 percent success rate.

27: Significant leg strikes landed by Dvalishvili. Aldo, who once used leg kicks as one of his signature moves, landed just six.

4: Light heavyweights to earn a finish stemming from a body kick in UFC competition. By virtue of the front kick to the midsection that set the stage for his stoppage of Harry Hunsucker, Tyson Pedro joined a group that previously included Jan Blachowicz, Rich Franklin and Marcin Prachnio.

63: Total strike advantage for Alexander Romanov in Round 1 of his heavyweight bout against Marcin Tybura. Romanov also landed two of three takedowns and enjoyed 4:27 of control time.

50: Total strike advantage for Tybura in Rounds 2 and 3 combined. Romanov failed on his three subsequent takedown tries and went on to lose a majority decision after a fast start.

80: Significant strikes by which Jared Gordon outlanded Leonardo Santos in a clear-cut unanimous decision triumph at lightweight. “Flash” was accurate and efficient in his approach, landing 116 of his 174 attempts — a 66 percent success rate.

41: Significant body strikes landed by Gordon. Santos, meanwhile, landed just 11.

15: Fights in UFC history to be declared a split draw after Sean Woodson vs. Luis Saldana joined the group on Saturday night. The most recent split draw before UFC 278 was between Ion Cutelaba and Justin Jacoby at UFC on ESPN 23 on May 1, 2021.

216: Combined significant strikes landed by Ange Loosa (129) and A.J. Fletcher (87) in their preliminary welterweight bout. Loosa also held a 241-to-103 edge in total strikes.

102: Total strikes by which Loosa outlanded Fletcher in a definitive third round. Loosa also outlanded his foe by a 38-to-4 count in significant strikes in the frame.

48: Significant strikes landed by Jay Perrin in Round 3 of a unanimous decision loss Qileng Aori at bantamweight. Perrin landed 40 significant strikes in Rounds 1 and 2 combined to allow his opponent to build an early lead on the scorecards.

67: Total strikes by which Victor Altamirano outlanded Daniel Lacerda in a first-round technical knockout victory at flyweight. In addition to holding a 94-to-27 edge in total strikes, the Mexico City native outlanded his opponent by a 58-to-22 count in significant strikes in just 3:39 of action.

41: Significant ground strikes for Altamirano, who finished his opponent with a barrage of punches and elbows on the canvas. By comparison, Lacerda landed just four significant ground strikes.