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The UFC is going to present one of the most high-profile fight cards of the year this Saturday. UFC 261, which will feature a triad of title fights, will take place this weekend at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
There were early plans for the pay-per-view to take place in Singapore, but the venue was changed because of complications relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.
UFC president Dana White announced in March that the event would be moved to Florida. The promotion will open its doors to a full capacity attendance of 15,000 fans for the first time since March of 2020.
UFC 261 will feature the welterweight champion Kamaru Usman defending his title against Jorge Masvidal in the headliner in a rematch of their bout in July of 2020, which 'Gamebred' took on six days' notice.
The co-main event of the card also promises to be a firecracker of a fight, as women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili will defend her title against former champ, 'Thug' Rose Namajunas. The two have already engaged in tense exchanges of a political nature in the media.
The third championship bout of the night will be a women's flyweight title fight between current champion Valentina Shevchenko and Jessica Andrade.
UFC 261 - Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal
It was slightly surprising when Kamaru Usman called Jorge Masvidal out after going through Gilbert Burns at UFC 258. The welterweight already had a win over 'Gamebred' not more than seven months ago.
In a recent interview with MMA Fighting, Kamaru Usman explained the reason for his actions.
"At the end of the day, it’s not about him. It’s about me. I personally wasn’t satisfied with the way that I dominated him. I don’t feel like I fully broke him in the way that satisfied me. That’s why I called for it again," said Usman.
Losing the first fight via unanimous decision, Jorge Masvidal has claimed on multiple occasions that the outcome would have been largely different had he got the opportunity to train for a full fight camp before the contest.
At UFC 261, Kamaru Usman plans on proving Jorge Masvidal wrong. The Nigerian-born fighter has also hinted that he might be considering 'walking away' after the fight with an untarnished UFC record of 14-0.
Jorge Masvidal, on the other hand, has already agreed to a trilogy fight if he walks away with the win on Saturday night.
