UFC 251: Petr Yan Wins Bantamweight Title With Win Over Jose Aldo on Fight Island

UFC 251 finally kicked off the much anticipated 'Fight Island' pay-per-view event on the beach of [...]

By Nick Valdez

UFC 251 finally kicked off the much anticipated "Fight Island" pay-per-view event on the beach of Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, and the main event kicked off with the fight for the UFC Bantamweight Championship between Petr Yan and Jose Aldo. After a surprising back and forth between the two, the match ended with Petr Yan decidedly taking the victory against Jose Aldo via TKO as the referee stopped the fight in the fifth round. The UFC has had to make major changes to their operations during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and fans have been waiting to see what's to come from this "Fight Island" pay-per-view.

The UFC Bantamweight Championship has been in contention ever since previous champion, Henry Cejudo, announced his retirement from the sport shortly after winning the title himself. Veteran Jose Aldo has been one of the ones fans have been keeping an eye on following his split decision loss at UFC 245, but Petr Yan had been one to watch as well.

After making adjustments to their programming with new COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, this event is one of the first major events for the UFC since they started resuming the events. This means there are more eyes on this event than ever, and the stacked card for it certainly lived up to the hype with other matches such as UFC Welterweight Champion Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns, UFC Featherweight Champion Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway.

The "Fight Island" nature of the newest UFC event has been the subject of a ton of jokes among fans online as they equate it to Mortal Kombat and all sorts of other things, but what really can't be balked at is the card itself that was stacked with tons of formidable fighters and athletes. There has yet to be any word on whether or not the UFC will continue with this new setting or has found other elaborate set ups for future events, however.

What do you think of this result? How do you feel about the new UFC Bantamweight Champion? Did you expect the fight to go the other way? What did you think of the Fight Island card overall? Waiting to see more? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images

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