Here Are Some Facts You Need To Know About UFC 264

The UFC is all set to host one of the most anticipated events of the year in the form of UFC 264. Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier will headline the event that has many other exciting matchups on the card.

In the co-main event, ‘Wonderboy’ Stephen Thompson will face ‘Durinho’ Gilbert Burns in an important welterweight clash. There is also an exciting heavyweight clash between Tai Tuivasa and Greg Hardy.

Keeping all these facts in mind, let’s have a look at some of the facts related to the blockbuster UFC 264 event to be held on July 10, 2021.

UFC returns to T. Mobile arena after a gap of more than a year

The UFC 264 is about to be hosted at T. Mobile arena, Paradise, Nevada. This will be the first time that promotion is hosting the event at this venue post-Covid-19 pandemic.

The last event that the arena hosted was UFC 248. That event featured middleweight champion Israel Adesanya taking on Yoel Romero in the headliner for the title.

The event also hosted one of the best matches of 2020 when Weili Zhang defended her strawweight gold against the former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. It also received the fight of the night award.

The UFC 264 will be the fourth event of the year with live crowd attendance

The last major event UFC hosted without an audience was UFC 260: Miocic vs Ngannou 2. The following pay-per-view events, starting with UFC 261, have featured live crowds.

Thus UFC 264 will not only be the fourth event of the year with live crowd capacity but 4th since the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world.

UFC president Dana White had announced earlier that the event will host around 20,000 fans, i.e full capacity crowd.

Welterweight title eliminator on the card at UFC 264

Welterweight contenders Stephen Thompson and Gilbert Burns will lock horns in an all-important clash. This will act as an eliminator for the title clash.

The welterweight division is fully stacked up and there are so many contenders for Usman‘s gold. Thompson is yet to face Kamaru for the title, in fact, he is the only in the elite tier of the division to not face Usman ever.

Burns would rue the fact he came so close to winning the title at UFC 258. But everything is not over for him. He could return to the title picture with some wins, starting with this one.

A preliminary fight got canceled

UFC rescheduled a preliminary fight between Sean Brady and Kevin Lee for another event. Lee pulled out from the event citing injury.

Their match will take place at the August 28 UFC Fight Night event. Lee would have fought in his first match since losing to reigning lightweight champion Charles Oliveira last year.

This would have also been the second match for him in the welterweight division after his first appearance in 2019 ended in a loss to Rafael dos Anjos.

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O’Malley will have a new opponent

O’Malley and Louis Smolka were stipulated to face before the latter pulled out. The match was the main card fight and thus it was an important one.

‘Sugar’ though, got a new opponent. Kris Moutinho has stepped up for the small notice fight barely more than a week away.

McGregor vs Poirier 3- A legacy on the line

A match involving Conor McGregor is the highlight of the year without a second thought. He is the principal attraction and the biggest money-spinner for the promotion.

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But it will be a different game for him this time around. He is currently on the negative side in his last few matches. His last three matches have resulted in 1 win sandwiched between two losses.

Those losses were some of the most demoralizing ones for him. The match with Khabib at UFC 229 was the biggest pay-per-view for the promotion not just because of numbers, but also for the pre and post-drama related to the event. He lost that fight via submission.

His last match, a rematch with Poirier, resulted in a one-of-a-kind loss. The ‘Diamond’ defeated the ‘Notorious’ one via 2nd round TKO. Poirier exposed his legs so badly that it turned out to be the deciding factor.

McGregor has also considerably reduced his appearance for the octagon. So, this match has many things on line for him. More than anything, his legacy of being the dominant force is on the line. This could also be the last time he would in contention for the title fight as well.

The event also has some other important things like the fight involving Sean O’Malley. The year is at the halfway junction and many things depend on this event for the future course of action.

What did you make of the list? Let us know.