Dana White Discusses When The UFC Will Return To Fight Island
When all major sports organisations around the globe were forced to stop holding live events due to the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, UFC president Dana White refused to accept that his promotion could no longer put on events.
After it became almost impossible to host live shows on the US soil, the promotion moved camp to Abu Dhabi, where the infamous Fight Island was made a reality. After a stint in Jacksonville, Florida and then at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, the UFC headed to Yas Island, where they hosted four events containing many of their international fighters, beginning with UFC 251.
Return To Fight Island
Speaking to TMZ Sports, Dana confirmed that the promotion will return to Fight Island and gave a possible time frame.
“By the end of August, I will have done twenty two fight [cards in 2020 so far],” he said. “We got The Contender Series coming up, plus the other fights that we have in August. And like I said, I can only do so many [events] here without doing international fights because we are a global business. So probably September/October.”
Fight Island has proved to not only be popular among the fans, but also everyone within the company.
“Everybody wants to go there now man,” Dana said. “Octagon girls all want to go there, everybody wants to go. We’re working on fights right now for the next run, you know, obviously a lot of the big international stars will fight over there, and s***, this next trip over there, I’ll probably end up being there for five weeks.”
The Fight Capital Of The World
Dana explained why Fight Island isn’t just a necessity in these times of global crisis.
“I’m telling you right now, Abu Dhabi is going to become the fight capital of the world,” he said. “This place is going to end up becoming the fight capital of the world. The stuff that we’re doing over there, the infrastructure that’s already been built, the stuff that we’re talking about doing.
“This place is going to be a destination,” Dana continued. “If you are a fight fan, everybody wants to come to Fight Island man. You know why? Because it’s f***ing cool. And it’s fun, and it’s a really unique experience right now, with all this weirdness that’s going on in the world.”
Dana White’s Favourite Moments
When asked about his favourite moments on Fight Island, Dana couldn’t pick one, saying he was blown away by the whole experience on Yas Island, even the plane ride there.
“Well yeah, I mean our first trip out there. We go out, the flight was incredible you know. Etihad Airways Is like a five-star hotel in the air. Service is unbelievable, even the food is good which I hate plane food. Then you get down there, the Octagon on the beach was a destination that everybody went to. You saw all the fighters taking pictures in it. A lot of the media events were shot there.
“And then obviously the first night of fights. You know, when it all went down, and it happened, and everything was successful. You gotta get that first run under your belt. And then it felt like we did it, we did it. All testing that was done, zero positives, you know, it couldn’t have worked out better,” Dana concluded.
Do you share Dana White’s enthusiasm for Fight Island?
See also: