UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal 2 results and post-fight analysis
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Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
What a night. What a card!
UFC 261 marked the promotion’s first show with a full set of fans in over a year and this event had everything. We had great fights, great finishes, even a mediocre fight with a dramatic ending, Jake Paul getting booed and confronting Daniel Cormier, nasty injuries, the whole shebang. Everything excepts fans wearing masks. (I kid. maybe)
The main event took everyone’s breath away not because the outcome of Kamaru Usman winning was a shock, but how he did it. Usman was a bit sloppy with his power punches in round one but in round two he uncorked a picture-perfect right hand that floored Masvidal and frankly knocked him out before he hit the ground. Herb Dean was not satisfied that Masvidal was wiped out and Usman needed hammerfists to put Jorge to sleep. Do you realize the last time Masvidal got knocked out? Rodrigo Damm back in 2008! And h
The UFC sees extraordinary opportunity in China, the world’s largest economy. The immediate hopes at present lie in no small part on women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili. But the league built a second Performance Institute in Shanghai to grow to sport in China. The first fighter to “graduate” from there and earn a UFC contract is Alateng “The Mongolian Knight” Heili, who debuted at UFC on ESPN+ 15 on August 31, 2019, and is currently 2-1 in the big show.
“We’re so proud to see Aori Qileng and Na Liang graduate from our program and wish them all the best as they continue their journey into the UFC,” said Kevin Chang, the UFC’s APAC senior vice-president, to Nick Atkin for SCMP. “The hard work, sacrifice, and dedication our athletes put into improving themselves is tremendous.”