UFC Fight Island: Where to watch, date, time, upcoming matches and all you need to know about the event
If you love a good fight, then you must be hooked to the ongoing four-show program this summer that started with UFC 251 on July 12. UFC 251 took place at the Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It was originally meant to take place on June 6 at Perth Arena in Perth, Australia. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was eventually postponed.
Background
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the UFC went on with its March 13 event, UFC Fight Night: Lee vs Oliveira in Brasília, Brazil, behind closed doors. But the later matches were postponed. UFC president Dana White decided to continue with the sport and on June 9 UFC revealed that the Fight Island site would be Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and that it would also host four events in July.
Without a live audience, the event proceeded with normal timing for prime time hours on the east coast of North America. The main card began at 6 am (July 12) local time in Abu Dhabi, with the full preliminary card beginning at approximately 2 am Gulf Standard Time. A welterweight championship bout between Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal took place. The event was co-headlined by a featherweight bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway.
On July 19, Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo's match took place and Figueiredo emerged as the winner. After the win, as reported by ESPN, Figuiredo shared, "I said I was going to break Benavidez, and that's exactly what I did," Figueiredo said. "I gave him his first submission on his record, and the fight itself was a great show. I gave everyone a show. He didn't surprise me at all tonight."
Upcoming matches
The event has three upcoming matches: July 26, August 2 and August 16. The July 26 match will be headlined by Robert Whittaker and Darren Till. This event will be the fourth and final UFC Fight Island event scheduled to take place on Yas Island for this month. The event will also include other matches such as a light heavyweight bout between the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Maurício Rua and Antônio Rogério Nogueira, women’s bantamweight bout between former title challenger Bethe Correia and Pannie Kianzad and a heavyweight bout between Tom Aspinall and Jake Collier.
Consequently, the August 2 match will see a women's bantamweight bout between former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm and Irene Aldana as the headline event. For August 16, as per the UFC website, it will be a match between current two-time champion Stipe Miocic and former champion Daniel Cormier.
Dana White has also shared future plans in an interview with The National. When asked about the October headline event he said, "Khabib will be the next. We're talking about (middleweight champion) Israel Adesanya versus Paulo Costa, that fight happening. (Women’s strawweight champion) Weili Zhang versus Rose Namajunas is a possibility."
Where to watch
All matched can be streamed on ESPN+ and UFC app. The prelims start at 2.30 am IST and Main Card events at 5.30 am IST for the July 26 match. For the schedule of the other matches, keep an eye on www.ufc.com.