On July 9th 2020 UFC President Dana White announced that Fight Island is officially happening, along with one of the most stacked cards in the history of the UFC. UFC 251 will feature THREE championship fights for the Undisputed Welterweight, Featherweight, and Bantamweight straps respectively. The card also includes SIX current or former champions of the world in Kamaru Usman, Alexander Volkanovski, Max Hollaway, Jose Aldo, Jessica Andrade, and Rose Namajunas. On paper, this is some of the best news that has come out in sports this year, much less the UFC. However, for hardcore fans and those who have been anticipating the announcement of Fight Island for months, the reveal is….underwhelming.
Shortly after restrictions from COVID-19 were laid down halting many UFC events, Dana White announced that he was “in the process of securing a private island” for UFC events to be held on during the pandemic. The name Fight Island, and rumors of how it would look began swirling around the world of MMA. The image of a beachside octagon, surrounded by tiki torches and the sound of crashing waves blended with the pop of a crisp inside leg kick were burned into fight fans minds. Dream fights like Conor McGregor vs. Nate Diaz III were being rumored as possible candidates for competing in this theatrical environment. Although many fans and analysts were unsure if Fight Island was fantasy or reality, the prospect of its possible unveiling had everyone on the edge of their seats. And now its here! Unfortunately, its not exactly as we’ve imagined it.
Fight Island is a 10 square mile portion of Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. Yaz Island may sound familiar, and that’s because it was the host of Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier at UFC 242 in September of 2019, less than a year ago today. The arena which will presumably host all of the “Fight Island” events, was best known for having an air conditioning malfunction during UFC 242, and having arena temperatures above 100° Fahrenheit. When imagining what Fight Island would look like, that wasn’t the first thing that came to my mind.
That being said, as UFC fans we don’t have too much to complain about. No matter what 2020 has thrown our way, we continue to get more UFC action than we could have ever asked for. And for most of us fight fans, all we really need is a cage and some cage fighters, and that’s what we’re gonna get.