UFC fight tomorrow (24 April 2021): Is there an event and who is fighting?
UFC will host its fifth pay-per-view event of the year this Saturday, 24 April 2021. The show will be headlined by Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal. The pair of welterweights last competed in the main event of UFC 251, where Usman eked out a convincing unanimous decision win over 'Gamebred'.
UFC 261 will also mark the return of fans to the arena after more than a year. The last time the promotion hosted an event with the crowd present inside the arena was in March 2020, when Israel Adesanya took on Yoel Romero at UFC 248.
UFC 261: Usman vs Masvidal 2 will take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. The venue will accommodate a full capacity crowd of 15,000, according to UFC president Dana White.
The UFC held three back-to-back events at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in May last year — UFC 249, UFC Fight Night: Smith vs Teixeira, and UFC on ESPN: Overeem vs Harris.
UFC fight tomorrow: Usman vs Masvidal 2
Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal will collide in a rematch at UFC 261. The Nigerian Nightmare secured a big win over Gilbert Burns in his last outing, whereas Masvidal is yet to compete since his UFC 251 loss against Usman.
Gamebred had claimed he will finish Usman if he's provided a full training camp, which prompted the welterweight champion to call out Masvidal after his win at UFC 258. Both fighters have asserted that they'll emerge victorious at UFC Vegas 261.
In the co-main event, UFC strawweight champion, Zhang Weilli will defend her belt for the second time against the No.1 contender, Rose Namajunas.
A women's flyweight title bout between Valentina Shevchenko and Jessica Andrade will be the third championship fight to take place at UFC 261.
Chris Weidman will also make his return to the octagon against Uriah Hall. The main card of UFC 261 will commence with an exciting light heavyweight fight between Anthony Smith and Jimmy Crute.
Here is the list of fights expected to take place in the preliminary and early preliminary card:
Preliminary card
Welterweight: Alex Oliveira vs Randy Brown
Welterweight: Dwight Grant vs Stefan Sekulić
Middleweight: Karl Roberson vs Brendan Allen
Featherweight: Patrick Sabatini vs Tristan Connelly
Early Preliminary Card
Bantamweight: Danaa Batgerel vs Kevin Natividad
Lightweight: Kazula Vargas vs Rong Zhu
Flyweight: Qileng Aori vs Jeffrey Molina
Women’s strawweight: Na Liang vs Ariane Carnelossi