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Here’s Countdown to UFC 251, which previews this Saturday’s top bouts.
After a week off, we are in the middle of at least nine nine consecutive weeks of UFC events, with all of July’s slate set for Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
UFC 251 on July 11th was supposed to feature a welterweight title bout between Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns, but due to Burns’ positive COVID-19 test, Jorge Masvidal has stepped in on short notice to challenge for Usman’s belt. The other title fights remain untouched, as Alex Volkanovski and Max Holloway rematch for what’s Volkanovski’s featherweight crown, while Petr Yan and Jose Aldo vie for the vacant bantamweight title.
You can watch Countdown to UFC 251 at the top of the page. Understandably, they didn’t really have time to rewrite scripts and do a whole segment on Usman vs. Masvidal, so instead you get the other title fights plus a segment on Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade 2.
As a reminder, the full card is here:
Main Card (10 PM ET, ESPN+ PPV)
Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal
Alex Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway
Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo
Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade
Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant
Preliminary Card (8 PM ET, ESPN)
Jiri Prochazka vs. Volkan Oezdemir
Muslim Salikhov vs. Elizeu Zaleski
Makwan Amirkhani vs. Danny Henry
Leonardo Santos vs. Roman Bogatov
Preliminary Card (6 PM ET, ESPN/ESPN+/Fight Pass)
Raulian Paiva vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Karol Rosa vs. Vanessa Melo
Davey Grant vs. Martin Day
Marcin Tybura vs. Maxim Grishin