Ever since Dana White and the Fertitta Brothers acquired UFC, the promotion has reached new heights and is now a $11.3 billion business. UFC has always organized several events in America and the United Arab Emirates. This promotion was the first one to have an event inside The Sphere in Las Vegas and it marked a historic moment for UFC. When it comes to UAE and UFC relations, the duo has had a strong relationship that includes annual UFC events in Abu Dhabi and the promotion has been holding events there since time immemorial.

These events include the UFC events like Fight Nights and Fight Islands. However, when it comes to Fight Island, it is a whole other ballgame that takes place in Yas Island. So what is the whole ordeal about?

When the Etihad Arena in Yas Island became UFC Fight Island 

For the uninitiated, Yas Island is a man-made land off of Abu Dhabi. It is located on the golden shores of Abu Dhabi just 20 minutes from downtown and 50 minutes from Dubai. This man-made Island is unique because it not only offers marvelous leisure and holiday experiences but is also the home for Dana White’s Fight Island event which is organized in the state-of-the-art facilities on that Island.

When Dana White announced the concept of Fight Island, it already sounded exotic. The boss even increased the intrigue by not sharing the venue for the event for weeks to let the fans conjure up their own images of the venue in their minds. However, finally, UFC and the Department of Culture and Tourism organized the UFC Fight Islands in the luxurious Yas Islands where they eventually went numerous times.

The UFC had scheduled four events on Yas Island in 2020. The Mega event was UFC 251 which featured three title fights. Apart from that, there were three UFC Fight Night events on July 15th 18th, and 25 in the year 2020. UFC 251 was headlined by Kamaru Usman defending his welterweight championship against Jorge Masvidal. The other title bouts were of featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski against Max Holloway, and Petr Yan taking on former featherweight champ Jose Aldo for a bantamweight title.

The Island is the seat of entertainment and luxury and the Etihad Arena is magnificent. This arena has a capacity for 18,000 people and even hosted UFC 257 which was the fateful fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. This arena also hosted Disney on ice among other amazing events. Apart from that UFC 253 was also hosted in Fight Island along with UFC 254 where Khabib Nurmagomedov retired after submitting Justin Gaethje.

UFC loves to visit this beautiful island and host some of the historic events in this luxurious place in Abu Dhabi. For 2024 the promotion again returned to Fight Island for UFC Fight Night: Sandhagen vs. Nurmagomedov, which took place on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Since this island is now an iconic landmark for UFC let us see how it was made and how the idea was constructed.

History of the Yas Island, is it man-made?

In the year 2007 in May, Yas Island was just a desert that was dissected by a few narrow tarmac roads. However, with the amazing technology of the 24th century in just 2 years and 6 months, the deserted island became unrecognizable. It transformed into a luxurious venue fit for royalty that could host rock stars’ huge concerts and 60,000 fans for any event. It started to host the most prestigious car races and even world-famous UFC fights.

The island is essentially natural but the amenities and facilities inside it are completely man-made starting from the grassy lawns and trees to the huge arenas. The calm waters around Yas Island developed into marinas where F1 fans started to meet for late-night parties and super yachts. Ethiad Arena started to host the biggest events of UFC while the Yas Viceroy Abu Dhabi with glass panels and shimmering lights was cast across the marina and over the Formula One race track.

This island has everything from Ferrari World to an Indoor theme park and has grown into the entertainment nucleus for UAE. It even has a Yas Water World that opened in 2013 and Warner Brothers World, so you can expect your dreams to come true on this Island.

Another amazing thing about this man-made paradise is that there are strong safety protocols in place along with entertainment. The place has a demarcated safe zone where the public is not allowed to enter and these zones consist of the Ferrari track, a Flash Forum Fight Venue, Yas Beach, and many other such facilities.

This island is so secure that UFC could even organize a live event during COVID-19 times with all safety protocols in place. Every fighter had undergone tests for Covid 19 before they had boarded their flight to Abu Dhabi. They even underwent tests upon landing at their destination and continued to be tested more than five times during their whole stay. So, you can experience entertainment, luxury, and top-notch safety on this island.

Previous UFC Events at the Etihad Arena

UFC has held numerous events in Yas Island and it was their top destination during the COVID-19 pandemic as well. The events that were held on this man-made island include UFC 112: Invincible, in 2010, UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Nelson in 2014, UFC 242: Khabib vs. Poirier, in 2019 and UFC 251: Usman vs. Masvidal, in July 2020.

During the pandemic from 2020- 2021, there were a series of UFC events that were part of a bubble called Fight Island and were held behind closed doors at the du Forum until January 2021, when the UFC started hosting events with a restricted number of audiences at the Etihad Arena.

And now finally UFC 308 is returning to Yas Island on 26th October in the Etihad Arena. So if you have acquired the tickets for the live event then you are definitely going to have a blast!