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The UFC is bringing a pay-per-view fight card stacked from top to bottom this Saturday, April 24, 2021.
Featuring three title fights on the card, UFC 261 will take place at the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida. It is the same venue where the UFC held a number of events amid the pandemic, before moving back home to the Apex facility.
With a welterweight championship bout as headliner, UFC 261 will welcome back fans to the arena for the first time since March, 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions required events to be held behind closed doors.
The pay-per-view event will open gates to 15,000 fans on Saturday at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena on Saturday. Tickets for the event were sold out within minutes of going live despite warnings of 'permanent damage' and possible 'death' mentioned on them.
The UFC 261 press conference on Thursday was attended by the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, and the Mayor of Jacksonville, Lenny Curry.
Watch the press conference below:
Dana White clarified to Yahoo! Sports that all their employees who hail from the state of Nevada had been vaccinated, but those from other states would possibly have to get in touch with their local authorities and arrange for it themselves.
UFC 261 will feature Kamaru Usman against Jorge Masvidal in the main event welterweight title fight, while the co-feature will see women's strawweight champion Zhang Weili defend her title against Rose Namajunas. The third title bout of the night will star women's flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko against top challenger Jessica Andrade.
UFC 261 - Timings
Here are the starting times of UFC 261 for the US, UK, and Indian audiences.
USA
The UFC 261 early prelims will start in the USA on April 24, Saturday, at 5:45 PM ET/ 2:45 PM PT, followed by the preliminary card at 8 PM ET/ 5 PM PT. The main card of the fight, that features five fights including three title bouts, will commence from 10 PM ET/ 7 PM PT.
UK
UK audiences will be able to watch the early prelims from 10:45 AM BST on April 24, Saturday. The prelims will start from 1 AM BST on April 25, followed by the main card from 3 AM BST.
India
It will be April 25, Sunday, before the Indian audience can start viewing UFC 261. The early prelims start from 3:15 AM IST, followed by the prelims at 5:30 AM IST and the main card at 7:30 AM IST on April 25, Sunday.
