Usman Vs Edwards 2

  • Down four rounds to none and with one minute left in Round 5, Leon Edwards knocked out Kamaru Usman in the UFC 278 main event.
  • .Usman was listed at -10000 at the start of Round 5 via BetMGM and was a -5000 at the same time in the bout at BetOnline.ag
  • Canadian music star Drake lost nearly $500K in bets at UFC 278, including two prop bets on Usman totaling close to $200K.

The UFC 278 main card was going as expected.

Aside from Marcin Tybua pulling off the betting upset as a +250 underdog against Alexandr Romanov, nothing that happened on the main card was surprising. Well up to the final minute of the main event, that is.

UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman was on his way to collecting his 20th consecutive win and was one minute away from another successful title defense. The Nigerian Nightmare was ahead on the judges’ scorecard when Leon Ewards stunned the world with a head kick that put Usman in another dimension, literally:

Oh sorry, here’s the head kick KO:

And just like that, the night ended with one of the biggest betting upsets of the year, not so much on how the fight was handicapped before Round 1 but because of the massive live odds on Usman to win after dominating the first four rounds of the bout.

Usman was a -10000 to Win After Round 4

BetMGM had Usman as a massive -10000 favorite at the live betting market to win the fight after Round 4. At BetOnline, Usman was a ‘mere’ -5000 after round 4 with Edwards at +1200. But the sportsbook said that Leon needed Jesus to win the fight. That was blasphemy. Edwards found Jesus:

If someone placed a bet on Edwards to pull off the 5th round KO, that guy is celebrating Christmas in August. According to BetOnline, Edwards was a +4000 to win by 5th round KO/TKO:

That’s not even considering the odds before the knockout happened.

Usman entered the fight as the -375 favorite to win the fight. His odds dropped to -200 after Round 1, where Edwards became the first fighter to score a takedown against Usman. But Usman stormed back in Round 2 and ended the round as the -400 favorite. He continued his dominance in the third round and was a -1400 at BetMGM after Round 3.

Meanwhile, Edwards was a +290 before the opening horn. He shortened to +160 after one round but dropped to +300 after two. With Usman dominating the 3rd round, Edwards fell to +775 entering Round 4. At BetOnline, Edwards was at +700 after 15 minutes of action.

Looking back, the UFC 278 broadcast team was already writing off Leon Edwards with just over a minute left in Round 5. Those so-called experts were already sure of Marty picking up the win that they labeled Edwards’ fight as a “moral” victory. SMH:

Drake Curse Strikes Again

One day before UFC 278, Canadian music icon Drake revealed that he place a six-figure bet on Jose Aldo to beat Merab Dvalishvili. The bet was worth $238, 933.83 at 2.16 odds or a potential payout of $516,0097.07. When his bet slip hit the internet, the first thing that went to people’s minds was that Aldo was cursed. And they were not wrong.

Dvalishvili stifled Aldo and won via unanimous decision after three rounds. The win extended Dvalishvili’s winning streak to 8 while it ended Aldo’s winning run at three fights Meanwhile, it also signaled that the infamous Drake Curse of sports is back and we don’t even have to itemize which sports teams or athletes that the rapper has “cursed” with his sports bets.

After the UFC event, it was learned that Drake didn’t make only one bet for UFC 278. Bleacher Report’s br-betting Twitter handle posted a pair of bet slips showing that Drake made two bets on Kamaru Usman totaling nearly $200K. One was a $149,368.72 wager at 3.60 odds for Usman to win the bout via KO. The other was a bigger $149,368.72 bet on Usman to win the bout in Round 4 at 17.0 odds.

In all, Drake lost close to $450K on Saturday night on his UFC 278 bets. That amount is just peanuts for a very wealthy star like the Canadian. However, as far as the betting community is concerned. It’s a massive loss for him and a big win for the oddsmakers. The bigger winner of the day, however, remains to be Leon Edwards. And NEW!!!

About the Author
Shane Acedera profile picture
Shane Acedera
Shane turned a childhood love of the NBA into a successful writing career as he’s been covering basketball and other sports online since high school. Acedera branched out into sports betting over a decade ago and has been a reliable contributor to TheSportsGeek for the last five years. Shane loves to talk sports whether it’s with other enthusiasts or with his wife and three dogs.
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