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UFC 251 on Fight Island will have three title fights on the card.
UFC 251 is going down on Fight Island on July 11th, and the UFC is doing their best to get divisions moving again by adding three title fights.
While it hadn’t been officially official yet, it has been widely reported that the promotion has added three bouts for belts to the UFC 251 card – Kamaru Usman vs. Gilbert Burns for the welterweight title; Alexander Volkanovski vs. Max Holloway in a rematch for the featherweight title; and Petr Yan vs. Jose Aldo for the vacant bantamweight title.
Dana White finally did confirm all three fights in an interview on First Take on ESPN today.
Burns earned his title shot after blowing out Tyron Woodley late last month in a headlining fight at UFC Apex. Combined with the fact that negotiations for an Usman vs. Jorge Masvidal title fight broke down, and Burns was in the right place at the right time.
At 145 pounds, Volkanovski shut out Holloway in their first bout to claim the title. But without a clear challenger behind him, the UFC went ahead and gave the greatest featherweight in UFC history the rematch he probably deserved.
Finally, the promotion is looking to sort out the 135-pound situation by booking a bout for the vacant title. Yan is perfect in the UFC thus far at 6-0, and while Aldo hasn’t won a fight at bantamweight yet, he was scheduled to fight Henry Cejudo for the title before the pandemic locked him down at home. So the UFC is sticking to their guns and booking the biggest draw in that spot instead of the most deserving challenger, Aljamain Sterling. It’s a sure bet that AlJo will get the winner of this bout.
As mentioned, this all goes down on Fight Island, which Dana White confirmed today was Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, where the promotion has previously ran events. Also scheduled for the card is a light heavyweight bout between the debuting Jiri Prochazka and Volkan Oezdemir.