Welcome to Fight Island

The location has been set, the excitingly named “Fight Island” will host its first set of UFC bouts on Sunday morning. Located on Yas Island off the coast of Abu Dhabi, the island which also hosts the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will now be the venue for several fight cards held by the UFC. The idea is to accommodate for international fighters who will find it easier to travel to, compared to America where Covid-19 still has an effect on international travel.

 

The first of the Fight Island cards was already stacked but the withdrawal of Gilbert Burns from the main event – due to him contracting Covid-19 – meant that we are now left with the mouth-watering prospect of Jorge Masvidal stepping back into the octagon to face rival and current champion Kamaru Usman.

 

Check our preview for the 3 title fights below:

 

Kamaru Usman (C) vs. Jorge Masvidal

 

While Burns would have offered a strong challenge to Usman with his power and dynamism, Masvidal offers something entirely different. With possibly the highest fight IQ in the sport his cunning is what offers him advantages over his opponents as seen in his recent fights against Darren Till, Ben Askren, and Nate Diaz. Kumaru Usman however is a relentless, strong, and resilient martial artist with spectacular wrestling ability.

 

The clash of styles and the bad blood between the fighters is an exciting prospect, the terminator like Usman versus the BMF Masvidal is the fight that fans wanted to see before the Usman vs. Burns fight was booked. After Gilbert Burns received a positive Covid-19 test, Masvidal came in with 6 days to go before the fight. This was despite a standoff between the UFC and Masvidal where the fighter objected to the offers on the table, with him now being such a big draw, he felt he was deserving of greater remuneration which he seems to have received for this matchup.

 

Prediction: A tough one to call, Usman will be the bookies favourite for good reason, we think that the fight will go the distance and Usman will win in a closely fought decision. Masvidal will show his worth though, and we anticipate this to be the toughest test to date for the current Champion.

 

 

Alexander Volkanovski (C) vs. Max Holloway

 

This is a rematch of their December 2019 barn burner in which Volkanovski shocked the then champion Holloway to win the Featherweight Championship, after having beat Chad Mendes and José Aldo. Volkanovski’s tear has proved he is legit at this level and the Australian who trains out of the renowned New Zealand City Kickboxing gym (also the gym of UFC stars Israel Adesanya and Dan Hooker) is looking to solidify himself as the king of the Featherweight division in the second clash with “Blessed” Max Holloway.

 

Holloway had been dominating the division for many years until his bout with Volkanovski and he will be keen on resetting the status quo when he gets to jump back into the ring in the Fight Island bout.

 

Prediction: We predict another classic bout with the action constant throughout, the victor though once again will be the compact but powerful Volkanovski.

 

 

Petr Yan vs. José Aldo

 

The last of our highlighted fights is the matchup between Yan and Aldo for the vacant Bantamweight Title. With Henry Cejudo retiring leaving the belt up for grabs, there are no obvious dominators in the division meaning it will be interesting to see how this fight transpires.

 

Petr Yan has displayed an impressive ability to progress in a short space of time as he is a title challenger after only 2 years in the UFC, his come forward style and ability to control the fight has been displayed in his wins over some of the division’s standard bearers. Aldo however is an established great of the sport and he feels he deserves his shot at the title, despite a decision loss to Marlon Moraes at UFC 245 in which he looked relatively strong after moving down a division to attempt to once more recapture UFC gold.

 

Prediction: Petr Yan should pick up the victory, in a knockout after setting traps which Aldo will get drawn into

 

There are more fights on this card which should provide for great entertainment including Jéssica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas in a rematch of their 2019 bout and Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka which will outline one of the next Light Heavyweight contenders – the belt that Jon Jones officially holds.

The card will be shown live on BT Sport in the early hours of 12th July – the main card is scheduled to start at 3 a.m. Also check out UFC’s Countdown and Embedded series on YouTube to get more of UFC 251 and the fighters.