On Saturday, July 11, the UFC will host UFC 251: Usman vs. Masvidal from Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
In the night’s main event, welterweight king Kamaru Usman takes on late-notice opponent Jorge Masvidal. Usman enters his second title defense riding a 15-fight winning streak that includes a fifth-round stoppage of Colby Covington in his last Octagon appearance. He was originally slated to face his teammate, Gilbert Burns, but the Brazilian tested positive for COVID-19 and was forced off the card. Masvidal, the reigning BMF titleholder, has scored three straight finishes to surge into title contention. The veteran most recently topped Nate Diaz at UFC 244 in November.
The co-main event features a featherweight title rematch between Australian champion Alexander Volkanovski and former divisional kingpin Max Holloway. The pair met at UFC 245 in December, with Volkanovski extending his winning streak to 18 with a decision triumph.
Rounding out the title tripleheader, Russia’s Petr Yan clashes with MMA legend José Aldo for the vacant bantamweight strap.
The event kicks off with four fights streaming live on UFC Fight Pass and ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET. Four additional preliminary-card bouts follow at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, with the five-fight main card airing live on ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET.
The fighters hit the scales on Friday, July 10.
Alexander Volkanovski (145) vs. Max Holloway (145) – for featherweight title
Petr Yan (135) vs. José Aldo (135) – for vacant bantamweight title
Jéssica Andrade (115) vs. Rose Namajunas (116)
Amanda Ribas (126) vs. Paige VanZant (126)
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos (171) vs. Muslim Salikhov (171)
Makwan Amirkhani (146) vs. Danny Henry (146)
Leonardo Santos (156) vs. Roman Bogatov (155.5)
Raulian Paiva (129)* vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov (126)
Karol Rosa (136) vs. Vanessa Melo (141)*
Martin Day (136) vs. Davey Grant (136)
* – Paiva and Melo missed the limits for flyweight and bantamweight, respectively. Both fighters will be fined a portion of their fight purse.