Dana White’s much talked about ‘Fight Island’ destination will host it’s first event on July 11th according to the UFC president.
White had actually been talking up the potential for the Island events to kick off earlier than anticipated in late June this week, but has now backtracked on that.
“I’ll have pictures of the (Fight Island) infrastructure next week and have more details for everybody,” White told Jim Rome. “Yeah, this is absolutely, positively happening. I’ve been saying June 27, but it’s looking more like July 11.”
“That’s the first date that we’re actually bringing in all the different guys from other parts of the world.”
White then gave some further details about why the June 27th event isn’t happening there.
“We have a fight June 27. It’s looking like it’s gonna be Dan Hooker and Dustin Poirier. We can get Hooker into the country, so we’ll do it in Vegas.”
That makes sense as really the Island project was set up to circumnavigate issues getting international fighters into the U.S. during the coronavirus lockdown, but where it is possible to still bring stars to Las Vegas, that would remain there preferred option as it’s likely to be far cheaper from a logistical standpoint.
The July 11th event will be UFC 251, which currently doesn’t have a headlining fight confirmed, but will feature the likes of a rematch between Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade along with Frankie Edgar’s bantamweight debut against Pedro Munhoz.
