UFC Rumors: Expected headliner of UFC 251 revealed
UFC 251 returns to Perth, Australia. In 2019, the company held 2 PPVs in Australia - UFC 234 in February and 243 in October - the latter headlined by Robert Whittaker vs Israel Adesanya in front of a record crowd of 57,127.
The first PPV in Australia of the decade will be at Perth and there's already one title fight that's been announced - Valentina Shevchenko vs Joanne Calderwood for the Women's Flyweight Championship. That was announced merely days after the Champion Shevchenko dominated and submitted Katlyn Chookagian in the third round.
BJPENN.com speculated that the headliner of UFC 251 will be a rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway. Volkanovski is currently out with a hand injury but stated that he'll be ready by the middle of the year. Moreover, Dana White has been open about wanting to book a rematch between the two.
The timing seemingly works out perfectly for UFC and the PPV will have two big title fights. It's an exciting fight, though there's been some criticism of booking an immediate rematch for Max Holloway since he was dominated by Volkanovski throughout the fight - with the Australian winning a comfortable unanimous decision victory.
The other contenders in line are Zabit Magomedsharipov and The 'Korean Zombie' Chan Sung Jung. However, Jung revealed that he's set to undergo eye surgery in the USA and is targeting a return for July or August. Zombie stated that his focus is on Alexander Volkanovski (or in this case, possibly the winner of Volkanovski-Holloway 2) and if not the Champion, then Brian Ortega.
However, with Ortega expected to return sooner, a fight against Zabit Magomedsharipov could be scheduled in the late first quarter or early second quarter of 2020. Either way, the Featherweight Division is the most exciting its been in years and many great 145-pound fights await us this year.