[Event] UFC 251 - Usman vs. Masvidal - Jul 12

Dent · **Posted:** Sat Jul 04, 2020 4:55 am

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UFC 251: Usman vs. Masvidal is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on July 12, 2020 at UFC Fight Island, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Fight card

Main Card

Welterweight Kamaru Usman (c) vs Jorge Masvidal UFC Welterweight Championship
Featherweight Alexander Volkanovski (c) vs. Max Holloway UFC Featherweight Championship
Bantamweight Petr Yan vs. José Aldo Vacant UFC Bantamweight Championship
Women's Strawweight Jéssica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas
Women's Flyweight Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant

Preliminary card (ESPN / ESPN+)

Light Heavyweight Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiří Procházka
Welterweight Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Muslim Salikhov
Featherweight Makwan Amirkhani vs. Danny Henry
Lightweight Leonardo Santos vs. Roman Bogatov

Early Preliminary Card (ESPN / UFC Fight Pass / ESPN+)

Heavyweight Marcin Tybura vs. Maxim Grishin
Catchweight (129 lb) Raulian Paiva vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Catchweight (141 lb) Karol Rosa vs. Vanessa Melo
Bantamweight Davey Grant vs. Martin Day

Background

The event would have marked the promotion's second visit to Perth, following UFC 221 in February 2018. However, the promotion later announced on May 5 that it would officially postpone the realization of this event in Perth due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While not officially announced by the organization, a UFC Featherweight Championship rematch between current champion Alexander Volkanovski and former champion Max Holloway was originally expected to headline the event on June 6. The pairing first met at UFC 245, where Volkanovski defeated Holloway via unanimous decision to capture the title. Volkanovski indicated in late March that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he would postpone his title defense on the initial June 6 date.

A UFC Women's Flyweight Championship bout between current champion Valentina Shevchenko and Joanne Calderwood was expected to take place on the event's first date. However, Shevchenko was forced to withdraw from the event on March 31 due to a leg injury and the bout was postponed.
Yas Island was also the site for three previous UFC events in Abu Dhabi. One of them, UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Nelson, was held at du Arena. The other two Yas Island events, UFC 112 and UFC 242, were held at temporary venues.

COVID-19 pandemic, relocation to Abu Dhabi

UFC president Dana White stated on April 7 that he was pursuing an international venue — described as a "private island" or "Fight Island" — to facilitate the hosting of events involving fighters impacted by U.S. travel restrictions.

On June 9, the UFC revealed that the "Fight Island" site would be Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and that it would host four UFC events in July. This event will also be the fourth UFC event held on Yas Island, with its most recent having been UFC 242 in September 2019. Additionally, there will be a 10 square mile (16 km) "safety zone" on the island restricted to essential personnel. The designated area includes access to amenities such as hotels, restaurants and a training cage on the beach. The fights will take place inside the Flash Forum — an indoor events arena. It does not have communal areas, and those entering the site must go through "mist tunnels" to disinfect themselves from surface bacteria.

Without fans in attendance, the promotion does not have to worry about the local timing of the event, so the plan is to proceed with normal timing for prime time hours on the east coast of North America. The main card is scheduled to begin at 6:00 am (July 12) local time in Abu Dhabi, with a full preliminary card beginning at approximately 2:00 am Gulf Standard Time.

A UFC Welterweight Championship bout between current champion Kamaru Usman (also The Ultimate Fighter: American Top Team vs. Blackzilians welterweight winner) and Gilbert Burns was expected to headline the event. However, it was announced on July 3 that Burns was pulled from the contest after he and his coach, Greg Jones, tested positive for COVID-19. Pending pre-fight testing and a 24-hour quarantine, Jorge Masvidal was expected to serve as his replacement. After he passed his initial test, the new main event was confirmed.

The previously mentioned UFC Featherweight Championship rematch between Volkanovski and Holloway is still expected to co-headline the event.

A UFC Bantamweight Championship bout for the vacant title between Petr Yan and former WEC and two-time UFC Featherweight Champion José Aldo is also expected to take place at the event. Former champion Henry Cejudo announced immediately after his title defense at UFC 249 that he would be relinquishing the title and retire from the sport.

The following fights were also rescheduled for this event, after being scrapped due to different reasons from their original bookings:

A women's strawweight rematch between former UFC Women's Strawweight Champions Jéssica Andrade and Rose Namajunas. The pairing previously met at UFC 237 in May 2019, where Andrade won via second round TKO to capture the title. They were originally expected to co-headline UFC 249. However, Namajunas pulled out due to personal reasons, with her manager citing a pair of deaths in the family related to the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason.
A heavyweight bout between Shamil Abdurakhimov and Ciryl Gane. The pairing was also scheduled for UFC 249. However, Gane was forced to pull out of the event after he was struck by a pneumothorax in training. Subsequently, the pairing was cancelled a second time and scrapped from this event in mid-June as Abdurikhimov was removed from the bout for undisclosed reasons. In turn, Gane will be rescheduled for another event.
A women's strawweight bout between Amanda Ribas and Paige VanZant. They were initially scheduled for UFC Fight Night: Lee vs. Oliveira in March. However, VanZant was forced to pull out of the fight due to an undisclosed injury.

A bantamweight bout between Pedro Munhoz and former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar was briefly linked to the event. However, promotion officials elected to schedule the pairing for UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Ige four days later.

A heavyweight bout between Marcin Tybura between Alexander Romanov was scheduled for the event. However, Romanov was pulled from the event after testing positive for COVID-19 and replaced by promotional newcomer Maxim Grishin.

At the weigh ins, Raulian Paiva and Vanessa Melo missed weight for their respective bouts. Paiva weighed in at 129 pounds, 3 pounds over the flyweight non-title limit. Vanessa Melo weighed in at 141 pounds, 5 pounds over the bantamweight non-title limit. They were fined 20% and 30% of their individual purses respectively. Both bouts are expected to proceed at catchweight.

July 4 - Updated fight card & background
July 6 - Updated fight card & background
July 11 - Updated fight card & background

[Event] UFC 251 - Usman vs. Masvidal - Jul 12

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