UFC 261 Preview: Three Title Fights In Front Of A Full Crowd
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UFC 261 will take place tomorrow night in Jacksonville, and will be one of the first major sporting events with a full crowd in attendance. Tickets went on sale and quickly sold out the entire arena, VyStar Veteran s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville holds over 15,000 for a UFC card, and even with concerns over the pandemic, they sold it out in no time at all. Everybody s talking about, they re first, they re first – they re not first,
Dana White said when tickets went on sale. We re first. Nobody s going to do it like we re going to do it. They re talking outdoor arenas, most of them probably won t sell out, social distancing, all that stuff. We re selling out an arena, packed, record-breaking, and I m going to go everywhere that people want to do that.
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Kamaru Usman (left) fights Sean Strickland in 2017Associated Press
The weigh-ins are done, the fights are official, and three titles will be on the line at UFC 261 in front of a full capacity audience in Jacksonville, Florida.
Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal serve as the main event. The two welterweights will fight for the second time after Usman took the first fight by unanimous decision in July 2020. The Nigerian Nightmare has since defended his belt against Gilbert Burns, while Masvidal has not fought.
Two women s belts will also be up for grabs. Coming off an instant classic fight against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Zheng Weili will defend her strap against another former champion in Rose Namajunas.
UFC 261 start time, who is fighting tonight at ‘Usman vs Masvidal 2’ in Jacksonville Apr 24, 2021, 10:35am EDT
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Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is returning to the pay-per-view (PPV) business later tonight (Sat., April 24, 2021), and it’s going to be a big one. UFC 261 will feature a highly-anticipated rematch between current Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman and “BMF” title holder, Jorge Masvidal. In the co-main event, Zhang Weili puts her Strawweight strap on the line against Rose Namajunas, while Valentina Shevchenko will defend her women’s Flyweight title against Jessica Andrade. To top it off, it will be the first event to allow a full house of fans to attend since the COVID-19 pandemic started to run rampant on the world in March 2020.
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Frank Franklin II/Associated Press
Jorge Masvidal, Zhang Weili and Valentina Shevchenko highlight a title fight triple header to close out UFC 261 from Jacksonville, Florida.
Masvidal will get a second crack at Kamaru Usman in the main event. Gamebred took on the champion on extremely short notice at UFC 251 after Gilbert Burns was forced off the card days before the event.
Rose Namajunas will get a chance at the strawweight belt. She will be the second consecutive former champion who Zhang will look to keep away from the strap. She put on a Fight of the Decade contender against Joanna Jedrzejczyk last time out and could be in for another classic against Namajunas.
When Is UFC 261? Date, Time, PPV Schedule and How to Watch Masvidal vs Usman 2
On 4/24/21 at 12:00 PM EDT
Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal headline a stacked card at UFC 261 in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday as the sport holds its first event in front of a crowd with no capacity limit.
Usman will look to defend his UFC welterweight title in the rematch against Masvidal, whom he defeated by unanimous decision at UFC 251 last year.
For once, however, the bout could be overshadowed by the size of the crowd, which is set to command the lion s share of attention. Almost exactly a year on since shutting its doors because of the coronavirus pandemic, UFC 261 will be the first event hosted in front of a crowd with no capacity limit since UFC 248 in March last year.