UFC Fans Are Buzzing Over First Fight Island Card

Fight Island is real and UFC fans are in the mood to celebrate. UFC 251 is rolling right now and the people watching at home are buzzing about the new venue. When Dana White first mentioned the idea of Fight Island a lot of spectators snickered, but the dream has become a reality. Abu Dhabi's government is pitching in to give the promotion the space it needs to put on four events in 14 days on Yas Island. That's a whole lot of fighting, and you can bet there will be a ton of eyeballs on each of these bouts with most North American sports trying to work their way back during the coronavirus pandemic. August will bring a return to Las Vegas, but for now, UFC's home is Fight Island and the fans seem pretty pumped about that as long as they get more content.

"I have 600 fighters under contract," White explained to Fox Business. "The NFL has God knows how many football players (nearly 2,000). It's so hard to control these people. They're all grown adults. They can do what they want to do. I honestly don't know how to give any of these other guys advice. For these other leagues, it's more a financial problem than anything, a massive financial burden on sports leagues. Losing season ticket holders, concessions, parking, it's devastating."

📍 Fight. Island.

Who claims bantamweight gold tonight?#UFC251 | #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi pic.twitter.com/rcLeEGu7vM

— UFC (@ufc) July 12, 2020

"Athletes that are involved in combat sports are more in tune to making sure they've got clean environments," UFC chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein told the publication. "Whether it's bacterial infections or other things that can happen if you don't keep your space clean and don't start with proper hygiene. We're sort of used to being a little bit safer than everybody else, and also, our athletes are used to undergoing a tremendous amount of testing."

In a previous interview, the UFC head man said that he would secure an island and he followed through, "I am a day or two away from securing a private island," White told TMZ. "I have a private island that I've secured; we're getting the infrastructure put in now, so I'm gonna start doing the international fights, too. With international fighters, because I won't be able to get international fighters into the U.S., I have a private island that I'm gonna start flying them all in and doing international fights from there."

How much did you enjoy UFC 251? Let us know down in the comments!