The Octagon heads to Fight Island for tonight’s UFC 251 event, a 13-bout fight card headlined by Jorge Masvidal challenging Kamaru Usman.
Usman (16-1 MMA) will be looking to defend his welterweight title for the second time when he squares off with ‘Gamebred’ this evening. In his most recent effort at UFC 245, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ scored a fifth round TKO victory over Colby Covington to retain his championship.
Meanwhile, Jorge Masvidal (35-13 MMA) will enter tonight’s UFC 251 headliner on a three-fight win streak, his latest being a TKO victory over Nate Diaz at UFC 244. Prior to defeating the ‘Stockton Slugger’, Masvidal was coming off of back-to-back brutal knockout wins over Ben Askren and Darren Till respectively.
Tonight’s UFC 251 pay-per-view event is co-headlined by a featherweight title fight rematch featuring Max Holloway taking on Alex Volkanovski.
Holloway (21-5 MMA) and Volkanovski (21-1 MMA) first met at December’s UFC 245 event in Toronto, where ‘The Great’ was able to dethrone ‘Blessed’ by way of a unanimous decision victory.
The title-earning victory improved the Aussie’s current win streak to a jaw-dropping eighteen fights in a row. During that impressive stretch Volkanovski has scored victories over Chad Mendes, Jose Aldo and Darren Elkins.
As for Max Holloway, the former featherweight champion has gone just 1-2 over his past three Octagon appearances. During that stretch the Hawaiian picked up a decision victory over Frankie Edgar, while suffering losses to Dustin Poirier and the aforementioned Alex Volkanovski respectively.
Also featured on tonight’s UFC 251 main card is a bout between Jose Aldo and Petr Yan for the promotions vacant bantamweight title.
Aldo (28-6 MMA) will actually enter tonight’s Fight Island event on a two-fight losing skid. The former featherweight kingpin made his bantamweight debut at UFC 245, where he suffered a split decision loss to Marlon Moraes. However, many fans and analysts, including UFC President Dana White, felt that Aldo had clearly defeated Moraes and thus he was awarded an opportunity to fight for the vacant strap.
Meanwhile, Petr Yan (12-1 MMA) was also last seen in action at December’s UFC 245 event, where he scored a KO victory over MMA legend Urijah Faber. That win extended Yan’s current win streak to nine in a row, which includes victories over Jimmie Rivera and John Dodson.
Get all of tonight’s UFC 251 Live Results and Highlights below:
UFC 251 Main card (ESPN+ PPV at 10 p.m. ET)
Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal – Usman def. Masvidal by unanimous decision
Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway – Volkanovski def. Holloway by split decision (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)
Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo – Yan def. Aldo via TKO in Round 5
Jessica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas – Namajunas def. Andrade by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant – Ribas def. VanZant via submission (armbar) in Round 1
UFC 251 Prelims (ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET)
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka – Prochaska def. Oezdemir via KO at :49 of Round 2
https://twitter.com/UFC_CA/status/1282130013177946115
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Muslim Salikhov – Salikhov def. Zaleski dos Santos by split decision (30-27, 28-29, 29-28)
Makwan Amirkhani vs. Danny Henry – Amirkhani def. Henry via submission (anaconda choke) at 3:15 of Round 1
https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1282117626563567622
Leonardo Santos vs. Roman Bogatov – Santos def. Bogatov by unanimous decision (29-26 x3)
https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1282110787159494656
Early Prelims (ESPN/ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET)
Marcin Tybura vs. Maxim Grishin – Tybura def. Grishin by unanimous decision (30-27 x2, 30-26)
Raulian Paiva vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov – Paiva def. Zhumagulov by unanimous decision (29-28 x3)
Karol Rosa vs. Vanessa Melo – Rosa def. Melo by unanimous decision (30-26 x2 , 30-27)
Davey Grant vs. Martin Day – Grant def. Day via KO (left hook) at 2:38 of Round 3
https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1282083056895946752
Who are you picking to win tonight’s UFC 251 contests? Share your predictions in the comments section PENN Nation!
This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on July 11, 2020