What a warm welcome to all UFC fans and enthusiasts around the world to finally witness ‘FANS’ back in attendance to watch UFC 261 live at the VyStar Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.
The last event that had fans in attendance was at UFC 248 that took place at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on 7th March 2020.
Over a year later, the UFC is the first MMA organization globally to welcome fans back to the Arena to witness the best fighting action live! Not only that, the UFC have partnered with CLEAR to keep a close check on the health of the fans in attendance. CLEAR will have physical booths in VyStar Arena and will provide their services digitally to make the environment safe for all the fans, fighters and the staff.
Considering the UFC kept the show going during the pandemic keeping strict protocols in mind, I personally believe it’s a great opportunity to welcome 15,000 fans back to the arena. The viewers on TV will feel the sea of fans screaming, cheering, booing their favorite fighters.
For now, let us have a look at the main card of UFC 261:
The main event is a grudge match between BMF title holder Jorge Masvidal and welterweight (170 lbs) champion Kamaru Usman for the welterweight belt.
The two fighters met earlier at UFC 251 at Fight Island where Jorge Masvidal stepped in on 6 days notice to a title fight.
The original opponent – Gilbert Burns was out of action due to the corona virus that made way for a rivalry of a different intensity between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal.
There was constant chatter leading up to the fight, during the fight and even after the fight.
This rivalry seemed so genuine, even the UFC couldn’t help but make this match-up for the fans. Both fighters on a full camp would only mean fireworks inside a full sized 30 foot octagon.
Crystal Ball Prediction: Kamaru Usman retains his belt.
The co-main event sees the return of China’s first UFC champion Zhang Weili taking on former strawweight (115 lbs) champion Rose Namajunas.
The Trevor Whitman prodigy Rose Namajunas AKA Thug, has already smelt the taste of success after dismantling the former queen of the division Joanna Jędrzejczyk in 2017 which is deemed as one of the biggest upsets in UFC history. She faced Jędrzejczyk again in a rematch and beat her via unanimous decision, cementing her place in the strawweight division as the woman to beat. It was post the second fight with Jędrzejczyk, Rose went through multiple injuries and said the pressure on having this UFC belt is immense. Subsequently, Rose lost the belt in her next fight versus Jessica Andrade in 2019 and felt the weight was off her shoulders.
That’s when a new queen stepped up to the occasion and made her presence felt. In comes Black Tiger Fight Club loyalist Zhang Weili.
Weili beat Jessica Andrade in Shenzhen, China to become China’s first UFC champion. Weili defended her belt against Joanna Jędrzejczyk in March 2020 dubbing that fight as the Best Female MMA Fight to cement her place as a force to beat in this division.
A fight between a champion and a hungry former champion is always interesting to watch. One is hungry to keep the belt, the other has tasted success and is determined to dethrone the queen.
This will go down to the wire, it's going to be bloody, it's going to give you goosebumps. The fighter with more will power will reign. Let's see who that will be.
Crystal Ball Prediction: Zhang Weili remains the champion.
The third fight I would like to cover is the 3rd title fight on the card between Bullet Valentina Shenchenko and Jessica Andrade.
It's an extremely interesting matchup between two fighters that have dabbled in multiple weight classes (since there weren’t many women's MMA weight classes) and these fighters that have shown hunger and grit versus opponents much bigger and experienced than them.
Speaking of the challenger – Jessica Andrade. A fighter who dabbled in bantamweight (135 lbs) and strawweight (115 lbs), a weight division where she was a champion. At 5 feet 1 inch, it was always crucial for a stocky, powerful fighter like Andrade to pick her weight class appropriately as she had more disadvantages. For strawweight, she had to cut a lot of weight. For bantamweight, she was too tiny. It seems the Flyweight (125 lbs) was where her home is.
The current champion of the Flyweight division is the cold, scary assassin Valentina Shenchenko.
A fighter that again, has given fighters a very tough time in a weight division which would pose major issues for Valentine. At a time where the flyweight and strawweight division didn’t exist in the UFC, Valentina fought at bantamweight (135 lbs) and posed a real threat for her fellow competitors including the current bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.
Since getting strapped in 2018 as the Flyweight champion, Shevchenko has gone on to defend her title four consecutive times. Will she weather the Andrade storm and make it 5 title defenses? Only time will tell.
Crystal Ball Prediction: Valentina Shevchenko retains the title.
Hope you enjoyed my article written exclusively for SPOGO News. Do send me your prediction by tagging me on Twitter (Somesh_Kamra) and Instagram (Somesh.Kamra) and SPOGO News on Twitter and Instagram (SpogoNews) and get a chance to win exciting prizes. Watch me discuss UFC 261 in detail on 25/April at 5 pm only on the Sony Sports India facebook page and ask me anything on MMA!
About the author
Somesh Kamra is a professional mixed martial artist specializing in Muay Thai. He has designed many effective training programs for Superhuman Gym and the Police Academy. His knowledge of hand to hand combat is unbeaten and has been a success story for many students. Somesh Kamra is educated from the University of Gold's Gym in the field of physical fitness that includes strength training, plyometrics & cardiovascular training for muscular conditioning.
He works closely with the UFC for India and serves as the panelist for the TV Show – The Ultimate Guide to UFC and Pit Stop on Sony Sports Network.
Somesh runs India’s first combat podcast – The Fighting G.O.A.T produced exclusively by the IVM Podcast Network.
Instagram: Somesh.Kamra
Twitter: Somesh_Kamra
