Dana White announces full lineup for all four “Fight Island” events in July
The UFC is all set to spend all of July on Fight Island.
UFC President Dana White announced the full lineup of all four cards scheduled to take place at Yas Island ,Abu Dhabi.
It all starts three title fights at UFC 251 on July 11. Welterweight champion Kamaru Usman defends his belt against challenger Gilbert Burns.
In the co-main event, Alexander Volkanovski defends his belt against former champion Max Holloway. Petr Yan and Jose Aldo are also set to fight for the vacant bantamweight strap.
The main card is available on pay-per-views and preliminary cards will simulcast on ESPN and ESPN+.
On July 15, featherweights Calvin Kattar and Dan Ige will headline the second event on Yas Island. Frankie Edgar makes his 135-pound debut when he faces Pedro Munhoz in the co-main event.
A rematch between Deiveson Figueredo and Joseph Benavidez for the vacant flyweight strap will take place on July 18. Benavidez lost by second-round TKO to Figueredo at UFC on ESPN+ 27 on Feb. 29. Figueredo did not win the title due to missing weight a day prior.
A middleweight clash between Jack Hermansson and Kelvin Gastelum will serve as the co-headliner.
The “Fight Island” series concludes with a middleweight headliner between former champion Robert Whittaker and Dareen Till on July 25. A trilogy with light-heavyweights Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is the co-main event.
The UFC will put on 47 bouts in the span of 15 days.
UFC 251 Main Card [10 p.m. ET, ESPN+ pay-per-view]:
Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns – Welterweight title fight
Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway – Featherweight title fight
Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo – Vacant bantamweight title fight
Jessica Andrade vs. Rose Namajunas
Amanda Ribas vs. Paige VanZant
Preliminary Card [8 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+]:
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka
Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos vs. Muslim Salikhov
Makwan Amirkhani vs. Danny Henry
Leonardo Santos vs. Roman Bogatov
Early Prelims [6 p.m. ET, ESPN/ESPN+]:
Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Romanov
Raulian Paiva vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Karol Rosa vs. Vanessa Melo
Martin Day vs. Davey Grant
See the full lineup for July 15 below:
July 15 Main Card [10 p.m. ET, ESPN+]:
Calvin Kattar vs. Dan Ige
Frankie Edgar vs. Pedro Munoz
Carla Esparza vs. Marina Rodriguez
Abdul Razak Alhassan vs. Mounir Lazzez
Jared Gordon vs. Chris Fishgold
Preliminary Card [7 p.m. EST, ESPN+]
Modestas Bukauskas vs. Vinicuis Moreira
Molly McCann vs. Talia Santos
Ricardo Ramos vs. Lerone Murphy
John Phillips vs. Dusko Todorovic
Tim Elliott vs. Ryan Benoit
Diana Belbita vs. Liana Jojua
See the July 18 fight card below:
July 18 Main Card [9 p.m. ET, ESPN+]
Deiveson Figuredo vs. Joseph Benavidez – Vacant flyweight title fight
Jack Hermansson vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Marc Diakiese vs. Rafael Fiziev
Ariane Lipski vs. Luana Carolina
Alexandre Pantoja vs. Askar Askarov
Preliminary Card [6 p.m. ET, ESPN+]
Roman Dolidze vs. Khadis Ibragimov
Grant Dawson vs. Nad Narimani
Joe Duffy vs. Joel Alvarez
Brett Johns vs. Montel Jackson
Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Alexander Doskalchuk
Davi Ramos vs. Arman Tsarukyan
Carlos Felipe vs. Serghei Spivac
July 25 Main Card
Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till
Mauricio Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Alex Oliveira vs. Peter Sobotta
Fabricio Werdum vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Danny Roberts vs. Nicolas Dalby
Preliminary Card
Tom Aspinall vs. Jake Collier
Justin Tafa vs. Raphael Pessoa
Movsar Evloev vs. Mike Grundy
Bethe Correia vs. Pannie Kianzad
Nathaniel Wood vs. Umar Nurmagomedov
Ramazan Emeev vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
