Usman vs Masvidal to Headline a Stacked UFC 261 PPV in Front of a Full Crowd

April 24^th will be a significant day for the UFC as not only will the promotion hold a huge PPV event that features three world title fights, but they will also have a full crowd in attendance for the first time in over a year.

UFC President Dana White announced that Kamaru Usman will defend his welterweight title in a rematch against Jorge Masvidal in the main event of UFC 261, which caps off a massive PPV lineup.

In addition to the main event, the other two world titles fights include Valentina Shevchenko defending her flyweight title against Jessica Andrade and strawweight champion Zhang Weili putting her belt on the line against former champ Rose Namajunas.

Along with the exciting news of this event, Dana White also revealed that the UFC 261 will be in front of a full capacity crowd of 15,000 fans as the UFC returns to the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

If you recall, this was the location where the UFC held their first three events following the beginning of the pandemic in the spring of 2020.

Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry made the following comments about the UFC 261 event via social media:

“@danawhite, @GovRonDeSantis, and I will continue to demonstrate that Florida is poised to safely host signature sporting events watched globally. Welcome back to Jacksonville.”

Dana White Keeps His Word to Jacksonville

Last May, the UFC held their first three events in Jacksonville following the pandemic forced shutdown of all major sports. It was an invaluable opportunity for the UFC to get back to putting on shows even without any fans in attendance.

At the time, White praised Jacksonville for stepping up and providing them with a safe location to hold shows. He also made the following promise to the city:

“And for that, we will come back when everything opens up and we’ll bring a big event there. You guys are going to get a lot of attention and you’re doing it the right way.”

White kept his word by delivering a massive PPV to Jacksonville that will certainly rival any other card in 2021.

Usman vs Masvidal 2

UFC 261 will feature a welterweight world title fight in the main event as Kamaru Usman (18-1, 13-0 UFC) defends his belt in a rematch against Jorge Masvidal (35-14 MMA, 14-8 UFC).

Usman is listed as a large betting favorite with most UFC betting sites with odds listed in a range from -285 to -350. These odds are slightly higher than the opening line of -260 for when they first fought at UFC 251 in July 2020.

That event was supposed to feature Usman taking on Gilbert Burns, but Burns tested positive for covid and was pulled from the show. Jorge Masvidal agreed to take the fight on six days’ notice. Usman would go on to win that bout via unanimous decision.

Kamaru would also finally face Burns inside the octagon last month at UFC 258. Usman dominated Burns in that world title fight and won via 3^rd round TKO.

Jorge Masvidal hasn’t competed since his loss to Usman last summer. He’s currently listed with odds ranging from +230 to +285, which are higher than his +200 opening odds from UFC 251.

Shevchenko vs Andrade

The co-main event for UFC 261 will be a flyweight title fight as Valentina Shevchenko (20-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) defends her belt against Jessica Andrade (21-8 MMA, 12-6 UFC).

At UFC 231, Shevchenko captured the vacant flyweight belt and has had five successful title defenses. Her only two UFC losses, prior to winning the title, were via decision to Amanda Nunes. She opens as a large favorite for this bout with odds ranging from -350 to -400.

Andrade made her flyweight debut last October and defeated Chookagian via 1^st round TKO. She moved up from strawweight and looked very impressive. Andrade opens as an underdog with odds ranging from +260 to +325.

Zhang vs Namajunas

The third title fight at UFC 261 could be the most exciting of them all as Weili Zhang (21-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) defends her strawweight belt against former champ Rose Namajunas (9-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in what could be another fight of the year candidate for Zhang.

Zhang hasn’t fought in a year after she successfully defended her title against Joanna Jedrzejczyk in what was one of the best fights of 2020. In fact, it was one of the best female fights in the history of the UFC. Weili is the favorite for this contest against Namajunas with odds ranging from -180 to -200.

Namajunas lost this world title to Jessica Andrade in May 2019 at UFC 237. Andrade would end up losing the belt in her first title defense against Zhang.

Last July, at UFC 251, Namajunas successfully defeated Andrade in a rematch via unanimous decision. She’s the underdog in this world title fight against Weili with odds listed from +160 to +170.