Usman vs Masvidal 2 Set For UFC 261, Fans Allowed To Attend

“Featuring three championship title fights.”

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White dropped a huge fight announcement earlier today (Mon. March 15) after booking a rematch between current Welterweight champion, Kamaru Usman, and “BMF” title holder, Jorge Masvidal.

The rematch will take place at UFC 261 on April 24 inside VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. To make it even sweeter, White revealed that for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the world over a year ago, the promotion will have a packed house of fans in attendance.

Take that, Texas.

Naturally, White and Co. wanted to stack the deck for it’s first fan-filled event in over a year, so the co-main event will feature a women’s Flyweight title fight between division queen, Valentina Shevchenko, taking on Jessica Andrade. The pay-per-view (PPV) extravaganza will feature a third title fight when Weili Zhang defends her women’s Strawweight title against former division champion, Rose Namajunas.

White was determined to be the first sports organization to have a sold out arena during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it looks like he is about to deliver on that promise. Choosing Jacksonville as the host city isn’t a surprise, really, because “The River City” was the first to allow UFC to stage an event soon after the pandemic hit, with UFC 249 going down in May 2020.

Usman initially defeated Masvidal at UFC 251 in July 2020 via unanimous decision in a fight “Gamebred” took on super short notice after Gilbert Burns bowed out after testing positive for coronavirus. Since then, Usman has gone on to defend his title against Burns, while Masvidal has been campaigning for a do-over. He will finally get his wish nine months after their first bout.

Any of you planning on making the trip down to sunny Florida to get your UFC on in person?