UFC confirms return to Fight Island with stacked “triple header week”

UFC President Dana White has confirmed that his promotion will return to Fight Island—Yas Island in Abu Dhabi—in January of the New Year.

While this is not exactly new information, the UFC had not made the plan official until Tuesday, when White shared a promotional poster for the first three events back on Fight Island, which will all go down in the same week.

Dana white just announced UFC 257 will officially take place on fight Island pic.twitter.com/vIKNkHhCp4

— Noah Lang (@noahmattlang) December 22, 2020

The UFC’s return to Abu Dhabi will begin with the UFC Fight Island 7 card. That event will be topped by a featherweight fight between former champ Max Holloway and rising contender Calvin Kattar, and feature appearances from fighters like Sara McMann, Julianna Pena, Santiago Ponzinibbio and Li Jingliang.

UFC Fight Island 7

• Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar
• Sara McMann vs. Julianna Pena
• Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Li Jingliang
• Mike Grundy vs. Nik Lentz
• Brian Kelleher vs. Ricky Simon
• Jacob Kilburn vs. Austin Lingo
• Tim Elliott vs. Jordan Espinosa
• Carlos Felipe vs. Justin Tafa
• Punahele Soriano vs. Dusko Todorovic
• Anthony Hernandez vs. Rodolfo Vieira
• Bethe Correia vs. Wu Yanan
• Christian Aguilera vs. Warlley Alves
• Omari Akhmedov vs. Tom Breese
• Ramazan Emeev vs. David Zawada

Next up will the UFC Fight Island 8 card, which will be topped by a welterweight fight between No. 3-ranked contender Leon Edwards, and rising prospect Khamzat Chimaev. The card will also feature the UFC debut of Francisco Figueiredo, the brother of UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo.

UFC Fight Island 8

• Leon Edwards vs. Khamzat Chimaev
• Viviane Araujo vs. Roxanne Modafferi
• Tyson Nam vs. Matt Schnell
• Francisco Figueredo vs. Jerome Rivera

Next up on Fight Island is UFC 257, a pay-per-view blockbuster that will be topped by a lightweight rematch between former two-division champ Conor McGregor and former interim champ Dustin Poirier.

UFC 257 on Jan. 23

• Dustin Poirier vs. Conor McGregor
• Andre Muniz vs. Andrew Sanchez
• Joanne Calderwood vs. Jessica Eye
• Marcin Prachnio vs. Khalil Rountree
• Amanda Ribas vs. Marina Rodriguez
• Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Brad Tavares
• Ottman Azaitar vs. Matt Frevola
• Shane Burgos vs. Hakeem Dawodu
• Nasrat Haqparast vs. Arman Tsarukyan

Which of the fights announced for Fight Island are you most excited for?