None are local, but here's what the fighters of UFC 278 think of Salt Lake City

SALT LAKE CITY — The last time UFC CEO Dana White was in Salt Lake City to promote UFC 278 earlier this summer, he issued a pleasant but bold declaration: Utah Mixed Martial Arts fighters would not be lost on the event.

"We're doing 15 fights per card now," White said before much was formalized beyond the main card between Kumaru "The Nigerian Nightmare" Usman and Leon "Rocky" Edwards. "I'm sure we'll wind up with a couple of guys from Utah."

Fast forward to the end of the summer, and on the eve of the promotion's first-ever pay-per-view MMA card in the Beehive State, that promise failed to materialize.

Twenty-two fighters will suit up for UFC 278 at Vivint Arena beginning at 4:30 p.m. MDT Saturday, but none are from the state of Utah. Of course, that's not all on White or the UFC; a state that once housed a half-dozen UFC competitors have been reduced to a single fighter among the 700 under contract with the top MMA organization in the world.

When Court McGee, the Layton native who fights out of Orem, was unable to recover from injuries suffered in his last bout in June at UFC Fight Night in Austin, the promotion was unable to add a local area fighter to the card. Kaytlin "Katniss" Neil competed on Season 30 of The Ultimate Fighter at the time, but the Lindon native fell short in her bid for TUF crown and was left without a current UFC contract.

So there haven't been many options to sign up a fighter on a UFC contract for Saturday's card, even on a preliminary bout.

Still, the much-hyped event that had sold most of its tickets to Vivint Arena by Friday afternoon was set to carry on Saturday, headlined by a welterweight championship bout between UFC No. 1 Usman (20-1) — who many consider the best pound-for-pound fighter of the modern era with the longest active win streak at 14-straight victories. One more win will tie him with Anderson Silva for the longest winning streak in UFC history.

Getting that win is another question, though, with challenger Edwards (19-3), whose 10-match winning streak ranks third in UFC welterweight history. The Jamaican international, who fights out of England, hasn't lost since the first time he fought Usman, and he's eager to make up for that bout in 2015.

Even if he had to first ask his manager where Utah sits on a map. No, really; Edwards openly admits — often times in colorful language unsuitable for publication — that he had no idea where Salt Lake City was when he was first assigned to headline arguably the biggest MMA bout in state history.

"When you're a kid, you picture Vegas or New York, somewhere dramatic," he added. "But a win is a win. I'm not bummed for it."

Edwards has been in Utah for the past two weeks, training and acclimating to the unique environment on the Wasatch Front. It's a habit he's built up over his career, and one that has served him well to adjust to, among other things, altitude changes like what he'll encounter in Salt Lake City.

"Usually, the UFC brings you out on the Tuesday of fight week," said Edwards, who paid his own way for the extra stay. "I wouldn't have time then to acclimitize to the air, to the time zone.

"I don't like being rushed."

Edwards and Usman both made weight in Friday's official weigh in, tipping the scales at precisely 170 pounds to formally stage the highly anticipated rematch. Both co-main event fighters, former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and Paulo Costa, also made weight to set up their bout.

The only cancellation came in a women's bout when Shanna Young was withdrawn from the card because of a medical issue. The woman's bantamweight contender with a UFC record of 9-5 was scheduled to face Miranda Maverick.

Rockhold admits he's never fought professionally in Utah, but he is familiar with the state's MMA scene. He was spotted earlier in the week working out at The Pit with longtime friend Ramsey Niijem, who fights out of Orem. Nijem and Rockhold both grew up in the Bay Area before the 34-year-old Ramsey, a former NCAA wrestling champion who was under contract with UFC from 2011-15 following a stint on The Ultimate Fighter.

"Ramsey was always around my buddy Tark, sometimes in his corner," Rockhold said during UFC 278 media day. "They were up in the Bay Area working. I'm always looking for the best guys around."

Another fighter who knows Utah well is third-ranked bantamweight Jose Aldo (31-7), the Brazilian superstar who follows the Utah Jazz. Saturday will be Aldo's first fight in Salt Lake City, where he is scheduled to face Merab Dvalishvili of Georgia on the pay-per-view card — but it's not the first he's known Utah's sporting fan base.

"A lot of positive energy. I've been following what this city is all about because of the Utah Jazz, and I've seen how they are," Aldo said in Portuguese. "What I expect is people coming out and being as rabid and avid about sports as they are for the Jazz. I think a lot of good things are going to happen."

For Alexandr Romanov, the No. 13-ranked featherweight in the promotion, Salt Lake City ranks high on his professional stops. That's because the 31-year-old Moldovian has never fought on a UFC card outside the promotion's Apex training center in Las Vegas.

That means Saturday night when Romanov's fight against Marcin Tybura will be the first since signing with UFC inside a full-sized cage and likely with the largest crowd since arriving in the United States.

"This will be very fun for me," said Romanov (16-0). "This is a very big opportunity to show that I am ready to fight in the top 10.

"I'm coming here for the title. I think the guys who don't think about the title, they don't have a future in this division. I'm like a professional, and think that I need to win 3-4 more fights and try to make a title shot."

The UFC is making its first appearance in Utah since Aug. 6, 2016, when rising featherweight Yair Rodriguez beat Alex Caceres in the main card of the UFC Fight Night appearance.

That event drew 6,689 fans to Vivint Arena with a total gate of just $481,033, considered a low mark for the organization despite McGee's inclusion on the card in a bout he won over Dominique Steele by unanimous decision.

Anyone in the organization will argue that UFC Fight Night is a completely different beast from a pay-per-view card, from promotion to high-end fighters to a lengthy list of festivities and parties before, on or around the fight that will be known as UFC 278.

But that makes UFC 278 more important to be deemed a success, both in the local market and nationally. And that means more than just ticket sales and total gate, but quality, entertaining bouts, as well.

"I think there was a big budget to bring the UFC here, I'm pretty sure," Rockhold said. "But I think MMA is growing everywhere around the world, and this should spark some inspiration.

"I heard the last one was empty, but we put it on a holiday. Hopefully we put some people in the arena."

UFC is in a completely different place since 2016. Back at Fight Night in Salt Lake City, Connor MacGregor was just a few weeks away from defending his title against Nate Diaz, and the UFC was preparing for its first promotion in Canada with UFC on FOX 21. The idea of a long-term contract with ESPN that would put PPV cards under the ticket of streaming service ESPN+ was nearly inconceivable.

Six years later, Utah's MMA scene has also completely changed. Most hope it's for the better leading into Saturday.

"We won through a pandemic," Aldo said, "and even with a pandemic, the UFC grew."

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