UFC 251 fallout: Three titles and a first look at ‘Fight Island’ (2024)

It was the moment we’d been waiting for since we first heard the phrase “secured a private island.” We waited. We speculated. Some apparently even bought branded beach towels and special edition T-shirts. Then, at last, UFC 251 arrived and we got our first look at “Fight Island.”

Turns out, we’d pretty much seen it already. We just didn’t know it at the time.

So OK, “fight island” was actually Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. And the promise of an octagon on the beach? Technically, the UFC delivered. There was a purely decorative octagon right there on the sand, with the waves of the Persian Gulf lapping gently against the shore in the background. No one actually fought in it, mostly because temperatures soared into the triple digits each day as soon as the sun came up, but the important thing is that it was there as a visual prop for photos and pre-fight video packages.

Welcome to Fight Island. Now please find your way into the recently constructed air-conditioned venue where the important stuff actually happens.

If you were hoping for a tropical island feel to this event, some UFC version of the old WCW “Bash at the Beach” pay-per-views, sorry. No sand on the floor. No cardboard palm trees or volcanos stuck to the walls. Not even a Hawaiian shirt or umbrella drink in sight. This was utterly indistinguishable from the crowd-free pandemic events that the UFC has been running at its Apex arena in Las Vegas since the end of May. The only significant exception was that here the action paused every so often to highlight all the fun stuff there is to do when you #visitAbuDhabi.

Welcome to #UFCFightIsland!

🏝 #InAbuDhabi @VisitAbuDhabi pic.twitter.com/NdUx0DSfH6

— UFC (@ufc) July 6, 2020

In retrospect, none of this should have been a surprise. As we learned prior to the event, the government of Abu Dhabi was not only paying the UFC to bring this month’s slate of events to Yas Island, it was also footing the bill for the extensive COVID-19 testing, infrastructure costs, hotel rooms, transportation – even catering.

When UFC President Dana White said that “Fight Island” would be “so f*cking expensive,” he apparently meant it. He just meant it would be expensive for Abu Dhabi, and the people footing the bill would want to be sure and get their money’s worth.

Aside from the plugs for Yas Island theme parks and golf courses and race tracks, this was like any other UFC event during the pandemic. Except this one was bigger, with three title fights, and also longer, since all three went the full five-round distance.

The real virtue of the location was that it helped get the UFC’s full roster back in the mix, skirting travel regulations that had kept some foreign fighters from making it to the UFC Apex events. And with the multiple coronavirus tests and extensive quarantine procedures – everyone involved had to prove they weren’t COVID-positive before they could even get on the plane, then prove it again before they could leave their hotel room in Abu Dhabi – it was also probably the safest event the UFC has run since restarting.

That’s all good news. It’s also an encouraging sign for the continuation of UFC events as the rest of the sports world still struggles to get off the ground. And yet there’s a part of me that still wonders if it would have been so hard to give these events a different vibe, maybe even one that actually matched up with the promises that preceded them. Either that, or maybe just sell them as exactly what they are in the first place – an Abu Dhabi tourism ad that lines the UFC’s pockets while giving us the shows and the fighters we want. But now I guess I’m just asking for too much…

Other thoughts:

– I know people are going to give Kamaru Usman a hard time for beating Jorge Masvidal in the least exciting and most expected way possible to retain his UFC 170-pound title via unanimous decision. That’s fine. But can we also spare a moment amid all that grumbling to admit that, if we were in his shoes, we’d do the exact same thing?

It’s not thrilling to watch a champion foot stomp his way to victory in between takedowns and clinch control, but from Usman’s perspective it sure beats catching a flying knee to the temple and waking up minus one belt. Masvidal’s a dangerous man, even on six days’ notice. You mess around with that guy and you will get hurt – both physically and financially. Usman played it smart, which looked a lot like playing it safe. Now the thing to do is to rebook that Gilbert Burns fight once everyone is healthy, and let’s find out if a former training partner learned any special tricks to solving the Usman puzzle.

– As for Masvidal? He’s still the BMF champ in our hearts, and I don’t see his stock taking too great a hit as a result of the loss. His appeal is built on style, charisma, and sheer violent enthusiasm. It was never dependent on winning them all. If you ask me, the UFC should book him against Leon Edwards next to find out if the three-piece and a soda is deliverable inside the cage.

– Right when it ended I felt like Max Holloway won that fight. With a little time to meditate on it, I still think he won that fight – but it was close. Close enough that reasonable people could disagree, in fact, so I can’t get too mad at the judges. Still, the heart breaks for Holloway, with his Zoom training and his pandemic hair.

Now what’s he supposed to do? He’s tried lightweight. He’s tried rematching the featherweight champ. None of it’s worked, and you have to feel for the guy. The one thing we learned from watching him go five more rounds with the champ, though, is that “Blessed” can still fight. I’m just not sure who he should try to prove that against next.

– But did you see the look on Alexander Volkanovski’s face as he walked back to his corner after the second round? There was a man who knew he was losing. He’d been dropped, roughed up, thoroughly frustrated. Then he collected himself and got right back in that fight over the course of the next three rounds. Whether you think he deserved to win the decision or not, you have to admit that he made a compelling case in the last 15 minutes after getting pretty clearly tooled up in the first 10. That’s not easy to do. One might even say it’s what champions are made of.

– Speaking of champions, Petr Yan became one by beating a former one, but man alive did it ever get ugly at the end. That’s not Yan’s fault, obviously. His job is to beat on Jose Aldo until the referee tells him to stop. But when a guy is face down, unmoving as his blood pours onto the mat and the strikes thump off his stationary skull? Yeah, that’s probably enough.

You could argue that it might take a while before Yan really feels like the champ, what with Henry Cejudo vacating the title off a win. But if Cejudo has no intention of coming back and actually fighting Yan, could he please refrain from teasing us on Twitter as if he might? My dude, this fight could have been yours if you’d wanted it. All you had to do was say so, and instead you said so long.

No judgment there. If you want out of this sport, you should go before it does something terrible to you. But if you’re going to go, and if you know you’re not coming back, then leave us in peace to move on with the division. Which means letting Yan and Aljamain Sterling do the damn thing next, without the specter of “Triple C” hanging over everything like an ex who isn’t going to text us back.

Iconic. @rosenamajunas pic.twitter.com/n8LVpa7js8

— The Athletic MMA (@TheAthleticMMA) July 13, 2020

– Quote that’s still ringing in my head: “All day!”

That’s Pat Barry in Rose Namajunas’ corner, urging her to keep sticking that jab in Jessica Andrade’s face. “Thug” Rose still has it. She may have gotten lumped up in that final round, but she got her revenge in the rematch with Andrade. Put her against Weili Zhang for the UFC women’s strawweight title next and you’ve got lightning in a bottle. That is all.

– Totally real stat of the week: 3

That’s the number of significant strikes that Leonardo Santos landed in the final round of his prelim bout with Roman Bogatov. It’s also the number of fouls Bogatov committed in that round alone.

Referee Marc Goddard said it best: “What are you doing?” This was after the illegal knee to the head of a downed opponent. Which itself was after two groin shots in the same round. Somehow, Bogatov got out of there without a DQ loss, though the two points he was deducted didn’t help his cause en route to a unanimous decision defeat.

Still notice how much it took before he started losing points? That’s a problem this sport still needs to fix. You shouldn’t get to abuse an opponent outside the rules for so long before you finally suffer some consequences.

– Totally fictional stat of the week: 47

That’s the number of times Ben Askren had to watch himself get knocked out by Masvidal in replay after replay this week.

– Paige VanZant is probably bound for parts unknown, which isn’t the worst thing for her or the UFC. She figured out that she had a personal brand she could monetize beyond just fighting for show and win money. The UFC felt like it had wrung all the value it could out of her and wasn’t willing to shell out for more. Both sides seem like they could say farewell and be happy with the results.

If the phone rings now, it’ll probably be Scott co*ker and Bellator on the line. PVZ ought to answer and see if they can do some business together. The UFC, meanwhile, will be content to move on with someone like Amanda Ribas, who likely won’t cost as much and will prove to be a better fighter in the end.

– Is it way too soon to get way ahead of ourselves with Jiri Prochazka, who bolted from Rizin with a title and then knocked out Volkan Oezdemir in his UFC debut on the prelims here? Yes, absolutely. Are we going to do it anyway, mostly because we’re hurting for fresh conversation topics at 205 pounds, thanks to Jon Jones’ dominance? You bet. Let’s just go into it with our eyes wide open this time. And let’s enjoy the ride, since Prochazka has the ability to deliver some fun.

– Shouts out to Makwan Amirkhani. Not only was his transition from guillotine to anaconda choke smooth as all get out, but he was polite enough to lift Danny Henry’s legs after choking him unconscious. What a gentleman.

– Award for excellence in multitasking: Michael Bisping. He managed to get into a tweet war with Dan Henderson and call the fights at the same time. Why do I get the feeling that one of those things comes as naturally as breathing to him?

(Top photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)