UFC line-up for tonight (April 24, 2021): Who are the fighters involved in the event?
UFC 261 will see three championship bouts unfold one after another on the main card. The event will take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida this Saturday.
In the main event of the night, UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman will defend his title against Jorge Masvidal in a rematch of their UFC 251 bout.
After taking the last fight on six days' notice and losing via unanimous decision, 'Gamebred' claimed that he would be able to defeat Kamaru Usman with a full fight camp. This is why 'The Nigerian Nightmare' called him out after going through Gilbert Burns in his last title defense.
The co-main event will see women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili enter the Octagon for the first time since her historic battle with Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248 last year. Weili will put her title on the line against former champion Rose Namajunas, who is going for the title again after dropping it to Jessica Andrade in 2019. The Brazilian would go on to lose the title to Zhang Weili.
Jessica Andrade will challenge women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko in the third title fight of the night. To earn her shot, Andrade went through Katlyn Chookagian last year with a first-round knockout.
The main card of UFC 261 will also feature No. 9-ranked middleweight Uriah Hall against No.11-ranked Chris Weidman, and No. 6-ranked light heavyweight Anthony Smith against No. 13-ranked Jim Crute.
Also Read: What time is the UFC Fight Tonight (April 24, 2021)?
UFC 261 - Full Card
Here is the full fight card for UFC 261:
Early Prelims
Danaa Batgerel vs. Kevin Natividad (Men's bantamweight)
Kazula Vargas vs. Rong Zhu (Men's lightweight)
Qileng Aori vs. Jeffrey Molina (Men's flyweight)
Liang Na vs. Ariane Carnelossi (Women's strawweight)
Prelims
Alex Oliveira vs. Randy Brown (Men's welterweight)
Dwight Grant vs. Stefan Sekulic (Men's welterweight)
Karl Roberson vs. Brendan Allen (Men's middleweight)
Patrick Sabatini vs. Tristan Connelly (Men's featherweight)
Main Card
Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal (Men's welterweight) - Main event
Zhang Weili vs. Rose Namajunas (Women's strawweight) - Co-main event
Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jessica Andrade (Women's flyweight)
Uriah Hall vs. Chris Weidman (Men's middleweight)
Anthony Smith vs. Jim Crute (Men's light-heavyweight)
Watch UFC president Dana White break down some of the fights ahead of the event on Saturday night.