UFC 261 promised to be a landmark tournament in many ways, not only for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but for MMA in general. If only because he was crowned with three championship fights at once - a rather rare occurrence in the world of mixed martial arts. Moreover, the main one of them had every right to claim the title of the loudest and most expected in 2021. The confrontation between Kamar Usman and Jorge Masvidal became, if not the most status, then at least discussed, and the revenge attracted the attention of a huge audience of fans. In addition, the show in Jacksonville was the first in the period of the coronavirus pandemic to be held in front of full stands. Thus, about 15 thousand fans who filled the Wistar Veterans arena were able to witness the fights with their own eyes.
Perhaps this was the reason that the tournament turned out to be so memorable and eventful. Some of them happened already within the framework of the preliminary card, which, although it turned out to be not the most stellar in terms of the composition of the participants, hardly left MMA fans indifferent. The real wheelhouse in the octagon was arranged by Jeffrey Molina and Aori Kuileng, who performed 305 significant hits for two. The Chinese showed serious resistance, but still looked less convincing. The American not only significantly surpassed him in the number of hits (189), but also knocked down twice, which allowed Moline to win over all three judges to his side. At the same time, the UFC bosses were so impressed by the performance of the fighters that they wrote out a cash bonus of $ 50 thousand to each of them for the "Fight of the Evening".
But if Molina had to spend all three planned rounds in the cage, then Ariana Carnelossi and Danaa Batgerel resolved all issues ahead of schedule. Already in the first seconds, the Brazilian was almost knocked out, and spent the next ten minutes on her back, but still managed to seize the initiative and finish off her opponent on the ground. It took the Mongolian athlete only 50 seconds to send Kevin Natividad to the floor. He won the last four victories exclusively in the first five minutes.
Pleased with the participants of the show and the fans of grappling. Brendan Allen rehabilitated himself for the recent defeat to Sean Strickland and caught Carl Roberson on the knee lever, and Randy Brown is remembered for the original performance of the rear naked choke. With his right hand, the American grabbed Alex Oliveira by the wrist, and with his left held a reception. The Brazilian was clearly not ready for this and was forced to surrender.
The beginning of the main card came as a surprise. And this is not only about the fight between Anthony Smith and Jimmy Cool, which ended at the end of the first round. At the end of the segment, the former light heavyweight title contender struck a powerful low-kick that literally knocked the ground out from under his opponent's feet. The Australian stumbled and injured his leg, which prevented him from continuing the fight. During the break, the corners tried to put him in order, when he tried to get up he limped noticeably and forced the referee to stop the fight.
The worst thing happened in the next battle. On the eve of UFC 261, Chris Weidman talked about the championship prospects and made far-reaching plans. The 36-year-old has expressed confidence that he is capable of defeating Yuraya Hall for the second time in his career, defeating Israel Adesanya and regaining his middleweight title, and then successfully defending it and ending his career. But, apparently, he will not be able to carry out all this. Already in the 17th second of the fight, the American received a terrible fracture of his leg while performing a low-kick.
It is symbolic that in December 2013 a similar thing happened to Weidman's opponent, former MMA champion and legend Anderson Silva. Moreover, then the incident also occurred in a return battle between the fighters. In the first fight, the Brazilian sensationally lost by knockout and lost his belt, so he was extremely motivated to take revenge and return to the top of the middle division. However, all prospects were crossed out by a fatal low-kick, after which the Spider never managed to return to its previous level. Thus, more than seven years later, Chris repeated the fate of his most iconic rival in a duel with a fighter who has long been considered the heir to Silva.
After that, it was the turn of three championship fights, and Valentina Shevchenko was to defend the title first. She was opposed by former minimum weight belt holder Jessica Andrade, who rose to the flyweight division after defeats to Weili Zhang and Rose Namayunas. In a new category for herself, she won one victory and immediately received the status of the first contender.
Hardly anyone doubted that Shevchenko would have a colossal advantage in the standing position. The multiple world champion in kickboxing and Muay Thai is not just considered one of the best experts in striking technique in mixed martial arts, which cannot be said about Andrada. As a result, this was confirmed in the cage. Valentina noticeably interrupted Jessica, but at the same time dominated on the ground. In the first five minutes alone, she performed five takedowns and almost strangled her opponent.
Surely many expected that Shevchenko would continue to work in the rack, but she put Andrade back on the floor at the first opportunity. This time - with a spectacular throw. The applicant managed to get up, but a few seconds later she again found herself on her back and lost faith in success. Valentina, without much resistance, made her way into the position of lateral control, and then “tied” her opponent's hands, enclosing her in the so-called “crucifixion”. A series of elbow strikes followed, forcing the referee to stop the bout. The native of Kyrgyzstan confidently completed her fifth successive defense of the flyweight title.
The fight for the belt in the minimum weight among women turned out to be much more dramatic. Weili Zhang led a 21-win streak in a row and was considered the favorite against Namajunas, but made the same mistake as Joanna Jencejczyk in November 2017 - underestimating Rose's standing skills. The Chinese woman came too close to her opponent and became an easy target for the left high-kick, which knocked her to the ground already at 78 seconds. The American managed to deliver a few more blows from above, until Judge Keith Peterson intervened.
It is noteworthy that immediately after the battle was stopped, Zhang got to her feet and began to actively express her dissatisfaction with the actions of the referee. She showed with all her kind that she was ready to continue to fight and in her hearts pushed Peterson away from her. But Weili's gait showed that the knockout was really hard. As a result, she never resigned herself to defeat and, in communication with commentator Joe Rogan, said that she considered the stop premature. However, this did not reverse the official decision. For the second time in her career, Namajunas became the champion in the minimum weight category and could not hold back her tears during the award ceremony.
Many were looking forward to the main fight of UFC 261.
And there were a number of reasons for this.
Usman and Masvidal are the stars of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and their confrontation has been one of the fiercest in recent years.
For several months, the athletes expressed dislike for each other, which only added fuel to the fire on the eve of revenge.
Masvidal took the first fight on short notice and had only six days to prepare and cut weight, but at the same time he held out in the cage for all the planned five rounds.
Therefore, it was extremely interesting to see what he is capable of, having several months of preparation behind him.
The first round remained with Usman, but in general it turned out to be quite interesting and encouraging for Masvidal.
The Nigerian has moved away from his corporate identity and preferred to trade in a rack, wanting to silence his critics once and for all.
It is worth noting that earlier he was repeatedly accused of a boring manner of fighting, and often this criticism was absolutely deserved.
Jorge, it was only on hand, because in the clinch he had practically nothing to oppose to the more physically powerful Kamara.
In the first round, Masvidal struck nine more punches than Usman (23:14), and even the transfer to the ground performed by the Nigerian failed to change the state of affairs.
The American defended himself well on the ground and not only managed to get to his feet, but also noted a series of dangerous elbow hits in the head.
Therefore, what happened in the second round came as a real surprise to many. Masvidal confidently controlled the distance and continued to work the opponent's legs with low kicks until he suddenly slept through Usman's crushing blow. The right straight fell exactly in the jaw and turned out to be so heavy that Jorge was deeply knocked out. Kamaru made his fourth title defense and secured his 14th victory in the welterweight division, surpassing the achievement of the legendary Georges Saint-Pierre.