We’ve just come of the Saskatoon fight night which had some great fights and a controversial weight issue for the main event, but fans are now looking forward to the next big UFC event – there are a couple of fight nights in between which host some big names, but July 11th will be marked in many a calendar, not just for the fights but also for the final unveiling of the teased UFC Fight Island. It has already been confirmed that fight island’s location is on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, but the event moving to a purpose built location much like the UFC building in Vegas could provide some exciting opportunities.
The card is looking like it’ll be a great one however – outside of the main card we have seen that Khabib’s cousin will be making his UFC debut at 251 which could lead to some more exciting fights in the future as the Dagestan fighters have been performing incredibly well across multiple divisions, but the exciting fixtures are in the main card as we’re heading into some very exciting fights.
We get to see a rematch of Jessica Andrade and Rose Namajunas after their last exciting fight, with Thug Rose suffering a defeat after a nasty slam, we also get to see a great bantamweight title fight as GOAT Jose Aldo squares up against Petr Yan for what will be an extremely exciting fight – but many are looking to the main and co-main event. The co-main brings the rematch of Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, with Volkanovski feeling like he has something to prove after winning his title from Holloway, as he says he feels disrespected, with Holloway looking to recapture his title after seemingly extremely dominant recently. There’s also the main card of Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns as what would seem like an unlikely challenger – following an extremely impressive win over former champ Tyron Woodley, burns looks to double down and beat Kamaru Usman who has been searching for an opponent for a little while, recent drama had thrown the welterweight division into a little uncertainty with this looking to get things back on track.
Without any fans in attendance the hope is that the event can capitalize on recent success with viewer betting – given this is the most accurate metric for success without fans at the gate, a strong showing here is a positive sign. Recent changes within the UK have banned credit card betting and changes with an initiative called Gamstop making it mandatory for operators to register have made it difficult for some services to stand alone away from the initiative, but a list of sports betting sites not registered with Gamstop is available and provides a place for UK players to bet on the upcoming fights.
Success on fight island could change a lot however, it may allow the UFC to move away from problems it had been experiencing recently with commissions and judging as restrictions in both areas have often led to a diminished quality of an event, if moves can be made in a successful way on fight island, it could solve many of these problems.