Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman will make the second defence of his title against Brazilian submission specialist Gilbert Burns at UFC 251 on July 11. The fight will headline the promotion’s first card on the much talked about fight island.
Earlier today the UFC announced ‘Fight Island’ is located in Abu Dhabi and will host four events in July. The first event will be UFC 251 that is absolutely stacked with three title fights so far.
Usman hasn’t fought since beating Colby Covington at UFC 245 late last year. He was set to face Jorge Masvidal next but a pay dispute between the UFC and ‘Gamebred’ has ended all chances of that fight happening next. In steps Burns who’s fresh off the biggest win of his career. The 33-year-old dominated former champion, Tyron Woodley, over five rounds last month.
Elsewhere on the card Alexander Volkanovski will make the first defence of his featherweight title against former champion Max Holloway. The pair were originally set to fight on June 6 in Perth, Australia, but due to the ongoing global pandemic that fight has been pushed to July 11.
The final title fight on the card will be between bantamweight contenders Jose Aldo and Petr Yan who will duke it out for the 135lb title recently relinquished by retiring champ Henry Cejudo.
UFC 251 Card
Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns – welterweight title fight
Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway – featherweight title fight
Jose Aldo vs. Petr Yan – bantamweight title fight
Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant
Frankie Edgar vs. Pedro Munhoz
Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Ciryl Gane
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka
Will Kamaru Usman retain his welterweight title against Gilbert Burns?