Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
With the launch of “Fight Island” less than two weeks away, the UFC 251 fight card has now been finalized along with broadcast plans for the show.
The card will feature three title fights headlined by welterweight champion Kamaru Usman defending his belt against former teammate Gilbert Burns.
Usman has looked almost unbeatable as he stormed through the welterweight ranks before winning the belt in 2019. Since that time, he defended the title with a fifth-round TKO against Colby Covington but now he’ll be facing a former training partner who he worked with for the better part of eight years.
Burns comes into the main event off six straight wins including a lopsided decision over former champion Tyron Woodley in his most recent fight. Burns earned his title shot after moving to welterweight last year and if he wins at UFC 251, he would cap off an incredible 11 month run to become champion.
Meanwhile, Alexander Volkanovski will defend his featherweight title for the first time against Max Holloway, who he defeated to claim the belt last year. Holloway is widely regarded as arguably the greatest featherweight of all time so he was granted an immediate rematch as he seeks to avenge his prior loss while facing Volkanovski on July 11.
The third title fight will crown a new bantamweight champion as Russian wrecking machine Petr Yan takes on former featherweight king Jose Aldo, who will be making his second appearance at 135 pounds.
The UFC 251 main card will kick off at 10 p.m. ET with the show broadcasting exclusively on ESPN+ pay-per-view in the United States.
The preliminary card will start at 6 p.m. ET with the entire show simulcast on both ESPN and ESPN+ with the first four fights of the night also airing on UFC Fight Pass. The exact bout order of the prelims is still to be determined.
MAIN CARD (ESPN+ pay-per-view at 10 p.m. ET)
MAIN EVENT: Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns
Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway
Jessica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas
Paige VanZant vs. Amanda Ribas
UFC 251 PRELIMS (ESPN and ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET)
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Muslim Salikhov
Makwan Amirkhani vs. Danny Henry
Leonardo Santos vs. Roman Bogatov
Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Romanov
