UFC’s Fight Island is real, and it will start hosting fights next month with UFC 251.
The MMA promotion revealed Tuesday that Yas Island in Abu Dhabi is the site of Fight Island, which is set to stage several cards beginning with UFC 251 on July 11. Yas Island previously hosted UFC 112 and UFC 242. A portion of the island will only be inhabited by people associated with UFC, Dana White said on ESPN, and the site will include an arena and an octagon on the beach.
UFC 251 is stacked with big fights, headlined by Kamaru Usman defending his welterweight title against Gilbert Burns. Alexander Volkanovski will defend the featherweight title against Max Holloway in a rematch from December; Jose Aldo and Petr Yan will fight for the vacant bantamweight title; Rose Namajuunas and Jessica Andrade meet in a rematch from UFC 237; and Paige VanZant — who’s been making headlines for her Instagram antics — will face Amanda Ribas. Burns just defeated Tyron Woodley on May 30 in impressive fashion.
UFC will hold Fight Night cards on July 15, 18 and 25. It will hold another big pay-per-view on Aug. 15 that will be headlined by a Stipe Miocic-Daniel Cormier heavyweight title trilogy fight.