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.
