According to the new information about the UFC, the current president, Dana White, said last Tuesday that the "Fight Island" will be held in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Together, White released the calendar and the first card of the place which will hold three belt fights.
First, it was announced that Kamuru Usman (Nigerian) will put his welterweight belt in dispute against Gilbert Durinho (Brazilian). The co-main event will feature the fight between the Australian champion Alexander Volkanovski against Max Holloway (Hawaiian) in the featherweight division. Finally, the confrontation of José Aldo (Brazilian) against Petr Yan (Russian) in search of the Bantamweight title to close the hostilities.
There will also be the presence of two female duels on the main card, with the Brazilian, Jéssica Bate-Estaca, who will face Rose Namajunas and Amanda Ribas against Paige VanZant.
President White said there would still be three more cards in Abu Dhabi during the 15th, 18th and 25th of July. Everything to provide the best of the sport, with the fights:
Kamaru Usman against Gilbert Burns (Durinho) for the welterweight belt.
Alexander Volkanovski against Max Holloway for the featherweight belt.
Jose Aldo against Petr Yan for the Bantamweight belt.
Jessica Bate-Estaca against Rose Namajunas for the female strawweight.
Amanda Ribas against Paige VanZant for the female Flyweight.
Located more precisely on Yas Island, in Abu Dhabi, "Fight Island" will be the first major infrastructure to be held there, however, the UFC had already done some fights there, at UFC 112, where there was a clash between Anderson Silva against Demian Maia, in 2010. In 2014 at UFC Fight Night, where Minotauro met Roy Nelson and finally UFC 242 with the Khabib Nurmagomedov fight against Dustin Poirier, in 2019.
Almost a year later, the UFC returns to the site in the process of creating a security zone of approximately 25 km² on the island of Yas, including the construction of an arena, restaurants, training sites and a hotel. The zone will be open only to athletes involved with the UFC and coaches. In addition, island staff, UFC staff and Fight Island staff will be needed to ensure the functioning of the site in question.
"When all this happened, I was thinking about how we could get the events done. And I started to think and talk to different places, and Abu Dhabi was open to an agreement. Abu Dhabi is one of the most restricted places in the world right now with everything that goes on with COVID-19. So they will put us on Yas Island, we are building an infrastructure there. And we already have a whole plan on how to make this work" - commented President White.
"It's big. Everything will happen on the island. No one will leave the island. All. Training ... They will have their own training spaces, where they can prepare. We will have an octagon in the sand. The infrastructure will be unbelievable. When we go there, people in Abu Dhabi do everything right. Everything is top notch, everything is done beyond what you can believe" - Finished Dana.
