Twitter reacts to full-capacity UFC 261 with Usman-Masvidal rematch, three title fights in Florida
Masvidal #Masvidal
By Mike Bohn | March 15, 2021 9:50 pm
UFC president Dana White made a bombshell announcement Monday when he announced UFC 261 will take place in front of a full-capacity crowd with three championship bouts at the top of the bill.
The April 24 event, which will go down at VyStar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla., will mark the third title fight triple-header in company history. Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman (18-1 MMA, 13-0 UFC) rematches Jorge Masvidal (35-14 MMA, 12-7 UFC) in the main event, women’s flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko (20-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) puts her belt on the line against Jessica Andrade (21-8 MMA, 12-6 UFC) in the co-main event, and strawweight queen Zhang Weili (21-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) returns against Rose Namajunas (9-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) in the third title bout.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UFC 261 will mark the first time in more than 13 months that the promotion will attempt to fill an arena, and naturally, that news garnered the attention of the MMA and sports world.
Check below for the top Twitter reactions to the UFC 261 announcement.
Ariel Helwani
TUF isn’t dead, btw. They have bandied about a couple other options for coaches, but being one of the first events at full capacity was more of a priority at this time, sources say.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) March 16, 2021
Fernanda Prates
So I guess we’re just doing the thing in which we pretend the pandemic is over, huh? Cool cool. Been working out great for Brazil. https://t.co/YLmzLnuif4
— Fernanda Prates (@NandaPrates_) March 16, 2021
Jed I Goodman
#UFC261 will be the 8th #UFC event to have three title fights.thread
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) March 16, 2021
UFC 33 – September 2001
Ortiz/Matyushenko – Ortiz RetainedPulver/Hallman – Pulver RetainedMenne/Castillo – Inaugural MW championship
UFC 205 – November 2016
McGregor/Alvarez – McGregor #AndNewWoodley/Thompson – DrawJoanna/Karolina – Joanna retained
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) March 16, 2021
UFC 214 – July 2017
DC/Jones 2 – No ContestWoodley/Maia – Woodley retainedCyborg/Evinger – Cyborg wins vacant W FW championship
UFC 217 – November 2017
GSP/Bisping – #AndNewDillashaw/Garbrandt – And NewNamajunas/Joanna – And New
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) March 16, 2021
UFC245 – December 2019
Usman/Covington – Usman retainedHolloway/Volkanovski – #AndNewNunes/GDR – Nunes retained
UFC251 – July 2020
Usman/Masvidal – Usman retainedVolkanovski/Holloway 2 – Volkanovski retainedYan/Aldo – Yan wins vacant BW championship
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) March 16, 2021
UFC 259 – March 2021
Blachowicz/Adesanya – Blachowicz retainedNuns/Anderson – Nunes retainedYan/Sterling – #AndNew, Sterling wins by DQ
— Jed I. Goodman (@jedigoodman) March 16, 2021
Simon Samano
3 thoughts:
1. No sense in getting worked up over the full crowd. It’s happening.
2. Zhang Weili misses entire COVID era: last fight with fans, first fight back with fans.
3. Three title fights 🔥 🔥 🔥 https://t.co/6bjZeyM5MP
— Simon Samano (@SJSamano) March 16, 2021
Brian Kelleher
I mean I can swing April 24th. Full fans business is boomin let’s gooooo
— Brian BOOM Kelleher (@brianboom135) March 16, 2021
Caposa
Would have been nice if UFC waited until the vaccine was available to their own demographic. But then again Florida just had 22k damn people at the Super Bowl. Glad we’re getting Usman-Masvidal 2 over with relatively quickly.
— caposa (@Grabaka_Hitman) March 16, 2021