Dana White has officially announced YAS Island in Abu Dhabi as the location of Fight Island.
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic forced travel restrictions, White has said he is working on Fight Island to host international fighters. For weeks, people were speculating on where it is located. But now, White has announced the location is YAS Island.
Abu Dhabi was rumored to be the location for a couple of days now and it turns out that is the case. The first card on Fight Island will be UFC 251 which will be on July 11.
White recently told Eddie Hearn that Fight Island has almost been impossible to pull off but is glad he was able to do it.
“Let me tell you about ‘Fight Island,’” White told Hearn. “‘Fight Island’ is so f**king expensive, and so f*****g crazy and almost impossible to pull off. When you’re talking about planes flying people in and you have to quarantine people and all these things that we’re going through – it’s f*****g insane to be even trying to do this. But I promise you, we will do it and we will pull it off.
“I believe in doing this, it’s going to help grow the sport immensely,” White added. “It’s going to help financially, and many different ways it’s going to help build the sport – and I just know that we can do it. But let me tell you how hard it is and how crazy this whole thing has been, man. While people were laying in their f*****g pools enjoying the pandemic, I’ve been over here smoking my executive staff – burning these guys out, man. It’s crazy.”
Despite all the skepticism, Fight Island is real and will happen on July 11.
