Dana White Confirms UFC Fight Island Location, UFC 251 & Three Other Events Set To Be Held There In July

UFC president Dana White revealed on First Take this morning that UFC’s Fight Island is located in the Middle East, saying it is on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. UFC is planning to use the island as a place to hold fights featuring some of their international fighters who are unable to enter the United States due to ongoing travel restrictions caused by the pandemic. UFC 242 was held on Yas Island.

The part of Yas Island that will be used includes an arena to hold the events at, a hotel, training facilities, and restaurants, and will also be surrounded by a 10 mile “safety zone” in which only athletes, coaches, and UFC staff and personnel will be allowed. A training Octagon will be set up on the beach.

“We’re literally just going to Yas Island right now to pull off these fights, because the hardest thing to do right now is to get people into the country from other parts of the world. And we are a true global business; we’re the only ones that are pulling off live sports right now. And if I continue to do fights in the United States, I’m gonna burn out all my American talent. So now we’ve got Yas Island ready to go; it’s set up,” White said Tuesday.

According to White, UFC is planning to hold four fight cards on Fight Island in July, starting with UFC 251 on July 11th, followed by Fight Night cards on July 15th, 18th, and 25th.

UFC 251 is set to feature a welterweight title fight between champ Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns, as well as a featherweight title bout between Alex Volkanovski and Max Holloway, and Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo for the vacant bantamweight championship.

UFC has a long standing relationship with the government in Abu Dhabi and has been holding events there since 2010. An Abu Dhabi business also once held a 10% ownership stake in UFC.

The company has strong ties to Abu Dhabi, and specifically Yas Island, dating back to its first live event there in 2010. Flash Entertainment, an Abu Dhabi entity, at one point held a 10% stake in the UFC before the company’s $4 billion sale in 2016. The UFC has held three events at Yas Island and, in 2019, signed a five-year deal to hold annual cards there.