A welterweight matchup between a pair of fighters with a penchant for the exciting has been added to UFC 261.
A welterweight matchup between a pair of fighters with a penchant for the exciting has been added to UFC 261.
Promotion officials recently announced that [autotag]Randy Brown[/autotag] faces [autotag]Alex Oliveira[/autotag] on the card, which takes place April 24 at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Fla. The night’s main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and ESPN+.
Brown and Oliveira were initially scheduled to meet in February, but “Rude Boy” was forced to withdraw from the card. Oliveira was then scheduled to face Ramazan Kuramagomedov on short notice, but the replacement opponent was also ultimately unable to compete, and the bout was scrapped altogether.
UFC 261 marks the return of fans at full capacity for the promotion, which has operated largely behind closed doors since March 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Additional bouts announced for the blockbuster event – which features a trio of title fights in the night’s headlining contests – include lightweights [autotag]Kazula Vargas[/autotag] (11-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC) vs. [autotag]Rong Zhu[/autotag] (17-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC), welterweights [autotag]Dwight Grant[/autotag] (10-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) vs. [autotag]Stefan Sekulic[/autotag] (12-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) and strawweights [autotag]Ariane Carnelossi[/autotag] (12-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) vs. [autotag]Na Liang[/autotag] (15-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC).
Brown (12-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) fought most recently in August, suffering a second-round knockout loss to Vicente Luque. Prior to the setback, Brown had picked up a “Performance of the Night” win over Warlley Alves and a third-round TKO of Bryan Barberena.
Meanwhile, “Cowboy” Oliveira (22-9-1 MMA, 11-7 UFC) looks to rebound from a UFC 254 loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov this past October. Before that defeat, Ooliveira had scored decision wins over Peter Sobotta and Max Griffin.
With the addition to the cards, the UFC 261 lineup now includes:
- Champ Kamaru Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal – for welterweight title
- Champ Valentina Shevchenko vs. Jessica Andrade – for women’s flyweight title
- Champ Zhang Weili vs. Rose Namajunas – for strawweight title
- Uriah Hall vs. Chris Weidman
- Jimmy Crute vs. Anthony Smith
- Randy Brown vs. Alex Oliveira
- Brendan Allen vs. Karl Roberson
- Danaa Batgerel vs. Kevin Natividad
- Qileng Aori vs. Jeffrey Molina
- Johnny Munoz vs. Jamey Simmons
- Kazula Vargas vs. Rong Zhu
- Dwight Grant vs. Stefan Sekulic
- Ariane Carnelossi vs. Na Liang
