The UFC announced that it will head back to Florida in April to host UFC 261 with 3 title fights with fans in attendance. There will be no limit on how many fans can attend.
Dana White made the announcement on social media that UFC 261 will take place in Jacksonville, Florida at the Five Star Veterans Memorial Arena where the promotion held 3 cards last May as one of the first major sports to return from COVID-19 restrictions. The card will be headlined by Jorge Masvidal taking on Kamaru Usman for the UFC welterweight title. There will be two other title fights on the card with Valentina Shevchenko defending here flyweight title against Jessica Andrade and the return of strawweight Zhang Weili as she takes on Rose Namajunas to defend her title.
The full capacity could max out of 15,000 fans and one should expect that to happen.
Payout Perspective:
Once again, the UFC’s willingness to be the ‘first’ to return to ‘pre-COVID-19 restrictions’ has been a driving force. Florida has been lax in its restrictions and one might expect a full-throated crowd without masks despite the fact many of the nation has yet had the opportunity to be vaccinated. Regardless, the UFC will be hailed as a winner by most of its fan base as many of the issues (i.e., people getting infected with COVID-19) after the fight will go unnoticed to many. The move is controversial for those that are cautious about moving forward during a pandemic and a positive for those that just don’t care about others. The fight card should do well on PPV and bring about media scrutiny that the company will use as more fuel for its fire.
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