“Fight Island” is real, and now the four cards that will take place there are real, as well.
UFC president Dana White today announced the complete lineup for the four cards that will take place next month in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The unique setup has been necessitated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has made it difficult to get international fighters into the U.S. to compete.
“I think this is going to be a really unique experience, not just for the fighters, but for us,” UFC president Dana White said during the announcement. “It’s going to be cool. It’s going to be something different. It’s never been done before, and however long this thing goes on, and however long it’s hard to get people in from other countries, we will have these fights at ‘Fight Island’ – Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.”
First up, it’s UFC 251 on July 11, which features a trio of title fights.
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
- Champ Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns – for welterweight title
- Champ Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway – for featherweight title
- Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo – for vacant bantamweight title
- Jessica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas
- Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
- Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka
- Muslim Salikhov vs. Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
- Makwan Amirkhani vs. Danny Henry
- Roman Bogatov vs. Leonardo Santos
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)
- Alexander Romanov vs. Marcin Tybura
- Raulian Paiva vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
- Vanessa Melo vs. Karol Rosa
- Martin Day vs. Davey Grant
Calvin Kattar and Dan Ige
The promotion then returns on July 15 with an event headlined by featherweight contenders Calvin Kattar (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and Dan Ige (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC).
The complete lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET)
- Calvin Kattar vs. Dan Ige
- Frankie Edgar vs. Pedro Munhoz
- Carla Esparza vs. Marina Rodriguez
- Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Mounir Lazzez
- Chris Fishgold vs. Jared Gordon
PRELIMINARY (7 p.m. ET)
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Vinicius Moreira
- Molly McCann vs. Taila Santos
- Lerone Murphy vs. Ricardo Ramos
- John Phillips vs. Dusko Todorovic
- Ryan Benoit vs. Tim Elliott
- Diana Belbita vs. Liana Jojua
Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo
Three days later, on July 18, the promotion hosts its third card in eight days, when top flyweight contenders Deiveson Figueiredo (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and Joseph Benavidez (28-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) meet for a second time with the vacant UFC flyweight title on the line.
The full card includes:
MAIN CARD (9 p.m. ET)
- Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Joseph Benavidez – for vacant flyweight title
- Kelvin Gastelum vs. Jack Hermansson
- Marc Diakiese vs. Rafael Fiziev
- Luana Carolina vs. Ariane Lipski
- Askar Askarov vs. Alexandre Pantoja
PRELIMINARY CARD (6 p.m. ET)
- Roman Dolidze vs. Khadis Ibragimov
- Grant Dawson vs. Nad Narimani
- Joel Alvarez vs. Joe Duffy
- Montel Jackson vs. Brett Johns
- Aleksander Doskalchuk vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
- Davi Ramos vs. Arman Tsarukyan
- Carlos Felipe vs. Serghei Spivac
Darren Till and Robert Whittaker
Finally, the UFC’s run in Abu Dhabi ends on July 25 with a much-anticipated middleweight contest between former champion Robert Whittaker (20-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and former welterweight title challenger Darren Till (18-2-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC).
That night’s full lineup includes:
MAIN CARD
- Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Rua
- Alex Oliveira vs. Peter Sobotta
- Alexander Gustafsson vs. Fabricio Werdum
- Nicolas Dalby vs. Danny Roberts
PRELIMINARY CARD