The UFC’s upcoming three-event visit to Fight Island will feature a limited number of fans.
The Etihad arena on Fight Island can hold up to 18,000 fans, but while there’s been no official word on how many will actually be in the arena on fight nights, the official word is that “seating capacity has been reduced to comply with social distancing rules.”
Tickets went on sale with prices ranging from aprox $216 – $1360, but have already sold out for the UFC 257: Poirier vs. McGregor 2 event on January 23rd.
However, tickets for UFC On ABC 1 and UFC Fight Night 185 are still available at a lower starting price of $162.
These events will be the first to feature fans in attendance since UFC 248 on March 7th of last year, when 15,077 people packed into the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas to watch an event headlined by Israel Adesanya and Yoel Romero.
Since the pandemic lockdown first kicked in shortly afterwards, UFC events have become eerily quiet, but despite his eagerness to continue putting on shows, Dana White has up until now resisted the urge to try to bring fans back.
However, due to the success of the ‘bubble’ being implemented at Fight Island, which requires all attendees to test negative before being allowed to fly there and no one else being allowed to enter, it seems White is confident that they can now bring a limited number of fans in to enjoy the shows.
Still, with the pandemic currently reaching new highs after the Christmas break and in the wake of new more easily spread strains of the virus recently being discovered, it’s a bold move and so all eyes will now be on the UFC again to see how if they manage to pull it off successfully.
