Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards have become the most unlikely rivals in recent years. While Usman had heated altercations against Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal, it was Leon Edwards who managed to give Kamaru the first loss of his UFC career. They have crossed paths in the UFC twice. The Nigerian Nightmare took on Edwards in his second UFC bout in 2016.
Leon Edwards had an extremely hard time in the bout. Usman landed 6 takedowns and landed a total of 126 strikes in their first encounter. The majority of the bout played out on the ground as Usman controlled the bout for almost 11 minutes. So Leon did not have the chance to make much of an impact in the latter stages of the bout as it was a 3-round fight. Usman handed Leon the second loss of his UFC career.
But Edwards got his revenge in the second fight. Part two of their bouts went down in August 2022. However, this time around, Kamaru was coming off a 15-fight win streak and he was the welterweight champ. But Leon ended Usman’s run with a magnificent head kick at UFC 278. After getting dominated in all four rounds following a good first round, Leon made a spectacular comeback and became the new 170 lbs champ. How many PPVs did the event sell? Let’s find out.
How many PPVs did Kamaru Usman vs Leon Edwards 2 at UFC 278 sell?
Kamaru Usman vs Leon Edwards 1 took place in the undercard of a Fight Night event in 2016. Hence, there is no question of the PPV buy rate for the event. But their second bout headlined a massive PPV in the form of UFC 278. The event took place inside the Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah. The event saw a reported 18,321 people inside the Arena.
In terms of revenue, UFC 278 generated a gate revenue of $4,297,655. So the event had a very healthy attendance rate. As per MMA salaries, the event had a PPV buy rate of 500,000. Although it did not sell more than a million PPVs, the figure was still very healthy considering the lackluster PPV buy rates last year.
Usman earned a healthy $962,000 from that bout. It included a PPV bonus of $400,000. He also had a guaranteed fight purse of $500,000 for the bout. And, the rest of his $62,000 consisted of post-fight bonuses.
Leon, on the other hand, had a guaranteed fight purse of $350,000. He earned $82,000 more in post-fight bonus and sponsorship money. With their trilogy bout at UFC 286 taking place in Leon’s home country England, it will be interesting to see what the buy rate for the rubber match is. With the event rapidly approaching, fans can expect an update soon.
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