UFC Returns To Jacksonville, Florida To Stage First Indoor 100 Percent Fan Capacity Event With UFC 261
By Cassandra Cousineau of LVSportsBiz.com
In the same North Florida arena where Las Vegas-based UFC held one of the first sports events during the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago, UFC Saturday staged the first indoor sports event with 100 percent capacity. Plus, it’s been 413 days since UFC held its last event in front of a capacity crowd.
Saturday’s UFC 261 was the historic re-start for UFC, which last held a packed-arena event March 7, 2020 when T-Mobile Arena was filled in Las Vegas.
Headlined by welterweight champion Kamaru Usman vs fan favorite Jorge Masvidal, UFC 261 was held at Vystar Veteran’s Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida, where 15,269 jubilant fans packed the arena. Fans were given option of wearing a mask there, but it was not required.
“It feels good to say tonight’s gate was $3.3 million,” UFC President Dana White said.
Getting through COVID, doing it safely, and doing this tonight, we did it again. The crowd was amazing, the fights were amazing. — UFC President Dana White
For just the eighth time in UFC history, an event featured three championship fights on one card.
Two of those were carried by an international quartet of female fighters.
“It was amazing, the best feeling,” flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko said after her successful title defense. The Polish-born, Muay Thai specialist took out Brazil’s Jessica Andrade inside of two rounds.
Directly afterwards, Rose Namanunjes upset the favorite, strawweight champion and Chinese-born Weili Zhang, with a vicious head kick barely one minute into the first round. It was a title she once had before.
White was reflective in talking about the return of fans and acknowledged the support of Florida politicians.
“It felt good here. It felt good to have the mayor, the governor and all of these people working down here with us. It literally couldn’t have been better. We couldn’t have done it any better than we did,” White said.
There was nearly a fight at the fights outside of the cage. Jake Paul, the YouTuber who moonlights as a celebrity boxer, showed up to a lively full-throated chant of “F Jake Paul” from the crowd. Not far away from where Paul was seated, former UFC heavyweight and commentator, Daniel Cormier, took notice. Cormier had a mostly one-sided back and forth on Twitter with Paul over the past two weeks.
“I swear to God, I just saw Jake Paul. I pointed at him and said, ‘Don’t play with me,’ because I’ll smack him in the face,” Cormier told UFC broadcaster Joe Rogan during the event. “He’s right there. I’ll slap him. I don’t play those games, Joe.”
UFC security were forced to intervene when Cormier abruptly left his position at the table and confronted Paul in his seat.
As for the headliner, the second round barely got going before Usman connected on a powerful right hand that sent sweat flying from Masvidal’s head and put him to the canvas, ending the fight.
Unlike their first meeting in 2020, in which Masvidal accepted the fight on late notice and lost a one-sided decision, the 36-year-old, former backyard brawler, had a full training camp to prepare.
Usman was gracious in victory. “He made me go to the workshop and I had to sharpen up my tools and come out here and put on a performance like that..” It was his fourth consecutive title defense and 18th win in a row overall. “I told everybody that I’m still getting better. I’m still getting better”
Even with the night’s scheduled events delivering on the hype, UFC 261 belonged to the fans. “It’s a different energy. It’s insane,” White said.
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