How to watch UFC 251: Live stream Usman vs Masvidal anywhere online
Three UFC titles are on the line as UFC 251 kicks off the first of four UFC events taking place on “Fight Island” this July
Kamaru Usman will defend his welterweight title at UFC 251 this weekend. His challenger – who stepped in with just six days’ notice – is the reigning UFC BMF titleholder, Jorge Masvidal.
While Usman has been undefeated in his last 15 UFC fights dating back to early 2014, Masvidal has been on an absolute tear in his last three fights, winning all by knockout. The highlight was his swift demolition of Ben Askren in under six seconds courtesy of a flying knee, almost exactly a year ago.
The UFC 251 title fight was originally scheduled to be between Usman and Gilbert Burns. However, both Burns and his coach tested positive for coronavirus in the week leading up to the fight, leaving Masvidal to step into the Octagon at short notice. Masvidal’s coach has also tested positive for coronavirus.
Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island will serve as the “Fight Island” for UFC 251 and three other UFC events, all taking place in July. The Octagon won’t have any spectators because of ongoing coronavirus concerns. Fighters will also make their way to the Octagon at a time more suited to the US audience, which means the Main Card will take place at 6am Abu Dhabi time on Sunday morning.
In the other two title fights, Max Holloway will aim to win back the Featherweight title he lost to Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 245 at the end of last year. Holloway has the most wins in the Featherweight division, but Volkanovski has yet to be beaten inside the Octagon for the last six years.
Similarly, Russia’s Petr Yan has a formidable record of just one loss in his 15 professional fights. He goes up against Jose Aldo who has recently made the switch from the Featherweight to the Bantamweight division. They will fight for the vacant UFC Bantamweight title.
How to watch UFC 251 Usman vs Masvidal: Main Card
- US: Saturday, 11 July, at 10pm (ET) and 7pm (PT) on ESPN+
- UK: Sunday, 12 July, at 3am BST on BT Sport 1
- Kamaru Usman vs Jorge Masvidal for the Welterweight title
- Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway for the Featherweight title
- Petr Yan vs Jose Aldo for the Bantamweight title
- Jessica Andrade vs Rose Namajunas in the Women’s Strawweight bout
- Amanda Ribas vs Paige Vanzant in the Women’s Flyweight bout
How to watch UFC 251 Usman vs Masvidal: Prelims Card
- US: Saturday, 11 July, at 8pm (ET) and 5pm (PT) on ESPN+
- UK: Sunday, 12 July, at 1am BST on BT Sport 1
- Volkan Oezdemir vs Jiri Prochazka in the Light Heavyweight bout
- Elizeu Dos Santos vs Muslin Salikhov in the Welterweight bout
- Makwan Amirkhani vs Danny Henry in the Featherweight bout
- Leonardo Santos vs Roman Bogatov in the Lightweight bout
How to watch UFC 251 Usman vs Masvidal: Early Prelims Card
- US: Saturday, 11 July, at 6pm (ET) and 3pm (PT) on ESPN+
- UK: Saturday, 11 July, at 11pm BST on UFC Fight Pass
- Marcin Tybura vs Maxim Grishin in the Heavyweight bout
- Raulian Paiva vs Zhalgas Zhumagulov in the Flyweight bout
- Karol Rosa vs Vanessa Melo in the Women’s Bantamweight bout
- Martin Day vs Davey Grant in the Bantamweight bout
How to watch UFC 251 Usman vs Masvidal in the US
ESPN+ has exclusive rights to broadcast every single UFC PPV event, including UFC 251: Usman vs Masvidal. If you don’t have an existing ESPN+ subscription, the best way to watch UFC 251 is to subscribe to the ESPN+ and UFC 251 bundle. This gives you one year’s access to ESPN and UFC 251 for just $85, resulting in a 25% saving if you were to take ESPN+ ($50) and UFC ($65) separately.
Apart from UFC 251, this bundle gives you access to 20 exclusive live UFC Fight Nights, including Dana White’s Contender Series, UFC Destined, Ariel The Bad Guy, classic fights, replays and much more, but it does not include a seven-day trial of the service. Existing ESPN+ subscribers will be able to purchase UFC 251 for $65.
ESPN+ is brilliant because you can watch the fights live on any of your devices. Apart from your PC, phone and tablet, there are apps for Android TV, Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast and even gaming consoles such as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
How to watch the UFC 251 Usman vs Masvidal in the UK
If you live in the UK, then the only way to watch UFC 251: Usman vs Masvidal from 1am on Sunday, 12 July, is on BT Sport 1. Signing up to BT Sport can be a little daunting: there are no fewer than eight routes in, including via mobile providers such as EE and ISPs like Virgin Media. Fortunately, we have a guide to watching BT Sport that covers the process in more detail.
READ NEXT: How to watch BT Sport on any device
Get BT Sport on TV: If you have BT TV, however, you’re in luck as BT Sport is already included in the company’s TV bundles. If you’re just a broadband customer, it’ll cost you between £10 and £15/mth. There is a three-month free trial that you can make the most of, though. Sky TV and TalkTalk TV customers can upgrade to BT Sport, starting from £25/mth, with a one-off payment of £20/mth upfront on a one-year contract.
Get a BT Sport Monthly Pass (best contract-free option): If you don’t have BT Sport, then your best option to watch UFC 251 from Sunday early morning is to get the BT Monthly Pass. This costs £25 and you can cancel at any time because you’re not tied down to any long-term contracts. You can stream the fights on your mobile, table and even cast it to your TV. The Pass gives you access to five exclusive BT Sports Channels, including BT Sport Ultimate that’s available in 4K HDR, provided you have a TV that supports this.
How to watch UFC 251 Usman vs Masvidal abroad
Both ESPN+ and BT Sport are geo-restricted, meaning you won’t be able to watch UFC 251: Usman vs Masvidal from outside the US or UK unless you use a good VPN service. These services not only encrypt all your traffic as you browse the web, but also let you access geo-blocked content. This means you can simply choose which country you want to browse from and the VPN will trick your device into thinking it is actually located in that country, giving you access to content that’s otherwise blocked.
READ NEXT: Best VPN services 2020
ExpressVPN: We’ve compiled a list of the best VPN services and our top-ranked VPN for the last three years is ExpressVPN. Apart from being the fastest VPN and safest VPN, it has great features including a 30-day moneyback guarantee, 24/7 customer support, works on multiple devices at the same time and our readers even get three months free when they choose the yearly plan.
NordVPN: Our second-favourite is NordVPN. Like ExpressVPN, it’s one of the few services to have successfully completed an independent audit of its entire service to prove that it doesn’t log any user data. You can use it on six devices simultaneously, making it a great option to watch UFC 251 for your entire family or between a group of friends.