Earlier this week, the UFC announced a packed schedule of feature numbered events and fight nights taking place throughout July, and in that announcement, the highly anticipated, ‘UFC Fight Island’ was revealed.
Located in Abu Dhabi, Yas Island will be the UFC’s location and new home for the next month. A mecca in the middle east, Yas Island is a premier leisure, shopping and entertainment destination, making it the prime spot to bring the very best fighters in the world.
Announcing dates in July, UFC 251 will be the first event to take place on Fight Island, held Monday 13 July. Although the card headline is still to be officially announced, rumours are circling around who’ll get the top honours.
The most likely to surface is that of Australia’s very own, Alexander Volkanovski and America’s Max Holloway, duking it out for the featherweight title. Not to come back quietly, it appears the UFC are planning to add two more title fights to the card with Kamaru Usman defending his welterweight belt against Gilbert Burns and Petr Yan to take on Jose Aldo for the bantamweight title.
Although details are still to be confirmed for athletes participating in the July fights, the UFC has wasted no time in securing dates across each weekend of the month. Dana White had previously made headlines by announcing the Fight Island, in what at the time, seemed like an improbable solution. However White has proved his critics wrong, and will continue to pull out all the stops in order to adhere to the government’s health and safety guidelines.
“We came up with the idea of having fights on ‘Fight Island’ because we needed a destination to hold international events during the global pandemic. Abu Dhabi has been an amazing location to hold fights over the past ten years and it is the perfect place for these events. The infrastructure we are building will be such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the fighters that’s never been done before – from the arena, the private training facility, and the Octagon on the island – it’s going to be an experience that none of us will ever forget. I can’t wait to deliver amazing fights from Yas island.”
Each event will be broadcasted live and free from the Official Home of UFC, so you can catch all the action all month, right here