To some, it was the return of "hard work and dedication." To others, it surely teetered closer to "cash grab and manipulation." Either way, Floyd Mayweather was back in a boxing ring Sunday night for the first time in nearly four years.
On Saturday night, the UFC returned from a two-week hiatus with the 13-fight UFC Fight Night 189 card. The card was topped by a heavyweight clash between No. 6-ranked contender Jairzinho Rozenstruik and the No.
The more time passes, the more normal it feels. The UFC returned to a fan-filled house on U.S. soil for the second time in three weeks Saturday night, bringing a 12-bout pay-per-view extravaganza to the Toyota Center in Houston.
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Though the UFC had already been the first significant sports entity to return with recurring shows at its Apex facility in Las Vegas and Fight Island in the United Arab Emirates, something was clearly missing.
That s not the case anymore.
The octagonal mixed martial arts conglomerate welcomed about 15,000 ready-to-burst fans into Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, on Saturday night, confirming the WE ARE BACK! claim that czar Dana White had tweeted upon announcing the show in early March.
Indeed, UFC 261 went off as a 13-bout show featuring three title fights atop a crowded bill, including a welterweight championship rematch between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal that was a runback of a match on Fight Island last summer that Masvidal famously took on less than a week s notice.
Call it a socially-distanced calm before the back-to-normal storm. The UFC cranked out one last crowd-free show in the Nevada desert on Saturday night before packing up the octagonal circus and heading east for a pay-per-view show in Jacksonville, Fla..