UFC to test fighters, corners for COVID-19 before leaving for ‘Fight Island’

By Guilherme Cruz, Damon Martin, and Mike Heck Jun 23, 2020, 11:00am EDT

UFC Fight Night Eye v Calvillo — UFC is holding several events in Las Vegas before leaving to Abu Dhabi for a month.

The UFC is following a different protocol ahead of its “Fight Island” series in Abu Dhabi in July.

While athletes were tested for COVID-19 upon arrival for fight week in Las Vegas, which led to a few last-minute fight cancellations and shuffles, the company has decided to get everyone involved, such as coaches and cornermen, tested before leaving for United Arab Emirates, multiple sources told MMA Fighting.

United States-based fighters will be sent to Las Vegas in early July to get tested for coronavirus before flying on a chartered flight to Abu Dhabi.

Eight of the 26 fighters scheduled to compete at UFC 251 on July 11 are based in Brazil, and the UFC will have them all fly to Sao Paulo on the first day of the month for COVID-19 testing. They will be quarantined in a hotel for two days before leaving the country.

The same protocol will be followed for the next three UFC Fight Night events on Yas Island, booked for July 15, 18 and 25.

The UFC decided to go overseas with “Fight Island” to make sure that fighters living outside of the United States could stay active while dozens of countries face travel restrictions due to the global pandemic. A travel ban on U.K. and Brazil nationals is currently in place in the U.S., for example.

Check all 47 fights booked for Abu Dhabi below.

UFC 251, July 11

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
Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jiri Prochazka
Elizeu Zaleski vs. Muslim Salikhov
Makwan Amirkhani vs. Danny Henry
Leonardo Santos vs. Roman Bogatov
Marcin Tybura vs. Alexander Romanov
Raulian Paiva vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov
Karol Rosa vs. Vanessa Melo
Martin Day vs. Davey Grant