Should we be happy or scared?

UFC 261 will have a full crowd as revealed by Dana White on social media today. The city of Jacksonville, Florida will play host to the event with three major title fights.

First, we are getting the Rose Namajunas vs Zhang Weili strawweight championship bout as most expected. Weili has successfully defended her championship once against Joanna Jedrzejczyk, the woman that Rose dethroned. This fight will answer a lot of questions like is Zhang really that good, or is Rose as great as fans remember?

Women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko will try and continue her dominance of the division. The challenger, former strawweight champion Jessica Andrade tries to add another belt to her collection. Jessica announced her arrival to the division by finishing Katlyn Chookagian (#10 women’s pound for pound) in the first round last year. Since arriving in the UFC back in 2015 Shevchenko has only lost two bouts to the same opponent. The GOAT Amanda Nunes. Nothing to be ashamed of there.

The biggest talking point to come out pertaining to the event is the announcement of one of the biggest rematches in recent history. Jorge Masvidal will get his rematch with welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. The first time, Masvidal stepped in at the last minute and had very little time to prepare. This time we will see if a full camp improves his chances. Jorge was soundly beaten in the significant strikes department by 28. Usman landed 94 to his 66. Kamaru is a beast of an athlete and Masvidal Will have to be on point if he wants to have a real chance to succeed. Landing more significant shots is super necessary.

What has everybody else talking is the fact that despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Florida is allowing the event to have a full crowd. VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena plays host to the event and the reception to the news has been a mixed bag. Some are condemning it for being reckless and some are praising it for trying to return to normalcy. The location can hold up to 15,000 fans and keeping it real I think we can all agree that posting a sign stating masks are required isn’t going to make people wear them. A lot of eyes are going to be on UFC 261, a lot of critical ones.

What do you think of all of this?

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