| UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal 2 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal 2 | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | April 24, 2021 (2021-04-24) | |||
| Venue | VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena | |||
| City | Jacksonville,Florida, United States | |||
| Attendance | 15,269[1] | |||
| Total gate | $3,300,000[1] | |||
| Buyrate | 700,000[2] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 261: Usman vs. Masvidal 2 was amixed martial arts event produced by theUltimate Fighting Championship that took place on April 24, 2021 atVyStar Veterans Memorial Arena inJacksonville, Florida, United States.[3][4]
The promotion had initially planned to hold the event inSingapore. However, negotiations with the Singaporean government fizzled amongstCOVID-19 protocols and the promotion initially turned to their home base of Las Vegas.[3] On March 15, UFC presidentDana White announced the event would be moved toJacksonville, Florida, with a full capacity of "15,000 UFC fans", marking the first time sinceUFC 248 in March 2020 that a full capacity crowd would be available (the UFC hosted a trio of events inAbu Dhabi in January with a limited number of fans).[4] Jacksonville also hosted the UFC's first fights back after the start of theCOVID-19 pandemic in May 2020, before the organization started hosting events in either Las Vegas or Abu Dhabi.[4]
AUFC Welterweight Championship rematch between the current championKamaru Usman (alsoThe Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians welterweight winner) andJorge Masvidal headlined the event.[4] They previously met atUFC 251, where Usman defended his title via unanimous decision.[5]
AUFC Women's Strawweight Championship bout between the current championZhang Weili and former championRose Namajunas took place as the co-main event.[6][7]
AUFC Women's Flyweight Championship bout between current championValentina Shevchenko and former strawweight championJéssica Andrade completed the triad of title fights.[8]
A middleweight rematch between formerUFC Middleweight ChampionChris Weidman andUriah Hall was expected to take place atUFC 258 in February.[9] They met previously in September 2010 at a Ring of Combat event for the organization's middleweight title, with Weidman winning via TKO.[10] However, Weidman was pulled from that event in late-January due to apositive COVID-19 test. The pairing remained intact and eventually took place at this event.[11][12]
Johnny Walker was expected to faceJimmy Crute in a light heavyweight bout.[13] However, Walker pulled out due to an injury and was replaced by formerUFC Light Heavyweight Championship challengerAnthony Smith.[14]
Randy Brown andAlex Oliveira were expected to meet in a welterweight bout atUFC Fight Night: Rozenstruik vs. Gane, but Brown pulled out due to undisclosed reasons.[15] They eventually fought each other at this event.[16]
A bantamweight bout betweenMark Striegl andJohnny Muñoz was expected to take place at the event.[17] However, Striegl was removed from the bout on March 24 due to undisclosed reasons and replaced by Jamey Simmons.[18] In turn, Simmons also pulled out on April 8 for undisclosed reasons. As a result, Muñoz was removed from the card as well and will be rescheduled for a future event.[19]
| Main card | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Welterweight | Kamaru Usman (c) | def. | Jorge Masvidal | KO (punch) | 2 | 1:02 | [a] |
| Women’s Strawweight | Rose Namajunas | def. | Zhang Weili (c) | KO (head kick) | 1 | 1:18 | [b] |
| Women’s Flyweight | Valentina Shevchenko (c) | def. | Jéssica Andrade | TKO (elbows) | 2 | 3:19 | [c] |
| Middleweight | Uriah Hall | def. | Chris Weidman | TKO (leg injury) | 1 | 0:17 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Anthony Smith | def. | Jimmy Crute | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 1 | 5:00 | |
| Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Welterweight | Randy Brown | def. | Alex Oliveira | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 1 | 2:50 | |
| Welterweight | Dwight Grant | def. | Stefan Sekulić | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Middleweight | Brendan Allen | def. | Karl Roberson | Submission (ankle lock) | 1 | 4:55 | |
| Featherweight | Pat Sabatini | def. | Tristan Connelly | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Early preliminary card (ESPN2 / ESPN+) | |||||||
| Bantamweight | Danaa Batgerel | def. | Kevin Natividad | TKO (punches) | 1 | 0:50 | |
| Lightweight | Kazula Vargas | def. | Rong Zhu | Decision (unanimous) (30–26, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Flyweight | Jeff Molina | def. | Aori Qileng | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 29–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Women’s Strawweight | Ariane Carnelossi | def. | Na Liang | TKO (punches) | 2 | 1:28 | |
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.[21]
