'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
This week has seen some major UFC news, as it’s been officially announced that Conor McGregor will return in early 2021. The UFC’s biggest ever star will return on January 23rd to face off with Dustin Poirier in the main event of UFC 257.
The fight at UFC 257 not only pits McGregor against a former UFC Lightweight champion and a man who’s considered one of the best fighters on the planet right now, but it was also a rematch from their first clash back in 2014. That fight went down at UFC 178 and saw McGregor win by first-round knockout.
While there are plenty of questions around how the fight will go, another interesting question is exactly how the UFC will go about promoting UFC 257 and such a major fight.
After all, it’s now been 10 months since we last saw McGregor in action. The Notorious One was last seen at UFC 246, where he stopped Donald Cowboy Cerrone in under a minute. McGregor claimed at the time that he was ready to compete in multiple fights in 2020, so why has that not happened?
Well, it’s simple. McGregor’s absence – and even a pseudo-retirement – has all been down to COVID-19.
A McGregor-headlined pay-per-view like UFC 257 would undoubtedly do big numbers at the box office, even in the era of ESPN+. UFC 246, for instance, drew a reported 1 million buys. However, it’s easy to forget that a lot of the money that McGregor brings to the UFC comes from gate receipts.
The Notorious One has a monstrous worldwide fanbase, but in particular, his Irish fans are willing to follow him across the globe. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, though, fans haven’t been seen at a UFC event since UFC 248 in March.
The UFC apparently hasn’t planned to have any fans return to their events until the end of 2020. But could 2021, and UFC 257 in particular, change all of that? UFC President Dana White certainly thinks so.
He’s stated that UFC 257 will be taking place at the Fight Island facility in Abu Dhabi. And in a recent report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, he’s also stated that the event will take place in the island’s new Etihad Arena, in front of a sold-out crowd.
So how exactly is this going to work? The report states that while White doesn’t know whether tickets for UFC 257 can be sold to the general public or whether the event will be “invitation only." He thinks the Etihad Arena is “ready to host full capacity."
Incredibly, a report from MMAJunkie suggests that White’s ready to go further than simply re-introducing fans. White was quoted as saying that he wants UFC 257 to act as the big event to build International Fight Week around – and that there could be everything from “concerts, pool parties and all kinds of cool stuff” going on.
For those who don’t already know, the UFC’s International Fight Week usually takes place in July and is built around the summer’s biggest UFC event. In the past, massive cards like UFC 100, UFC 116, UFC 189, and UFC 200 have been the ‘main course’ of International Fight Week, with lesser Fight Night shows acting as the ‘starter’ and ‘canapés.’
So does that mean that Fight Island could host more than just UFC 257 in January? It certainly sounds like it. In the same MMAJunkie report, White was quoted as saying, “What I would love to do is we’ll get there, and do it Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday fights.....We go out there and kill it.”
The UFC does have an event scheduled for January 16th – a week prior to UFC 257 – headlined by Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar. It’d be easy for them to book another event on either January 20th or January 27th to follow UFC 257.
However, will it be as easy as White believes to bring fans back for UFC 257 and this International Fight Week? It’s highly debatable.
To start with, the COVID-19 pandemic is still an ongoing, worldwide issue and shows no sign of slowing down. For instance, the US has reported upwards of 12 million cases, complete with over 250,000 deaths. And each day, thousands of new cases are being reported.
More to the point, when it comes to UFC 257, Ireland still has heavy restrictions to control the spread of COVID-19. The country is on a ‘Level 5’ alert, which enforces restrictions until December 2nd at the earliest. And there are no guarantees that these restrictions will be lifted going into 2021.
If the restrictions continue, that would probably mean that none of McGregor’s Irish fans could travel to Abu Dhabi for UFC 257 – surely diluting the whole point of having a packed Etihad Stadium for the big McGregor vs. Poirier clash.
White has claimed that Fight Island is an “easy destination to get to” for the fans. But with all of the logistic issues and restrictions around the world right now, would that really be the case for UFC 257?
Of course, one thing that could definitely allow fans to travel more freely would be a vaccine for COVID-19. Thus far, a number of vaccine variants have been discussed in the media, and it does indeed look like a vaccine for the virus should arrive at some point in early 2021 - perhaps in time for UFC 257.
But could it be the case that Abu Dhabi already has a COVID-19 vaccine? According to famed MMA coach Javier Mendez, the answer is yes.
Mendez – who heads up the AKA camp and has coached the likes of Daniel Cormier and Khabib Nurmagomedov – recently posted a video on Instagram that supposedly shows him being given a COVID-19 vaccination in Abu Dhabi. According to Mendez, the treatment was given courtesy of the country’s leadership.
However, no vaccine for COVID-19 has been officially confirmed to work as of the time of writing, although the scramble to secure doses of Pfizer’s vaccine has already begun. So what gives? Could Abu Dhabi have really developed – or gotten its hands on – a vaccine before everyone else?
And if that’s the case, then could we see a possibility where fans would travel to Abu Dhabi and receive this vaccine before attending UFC 257 and International Fight Week?
It certainly sounds like the kind of stunt that White would love to pull off. After all, the UFC was the first sports promotion to begin events again during the peak of the pandemic. And thus far, they haven’t run into too many difficulties in dealing with multiple events in both Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi.
And of course, there’s another option on the table. That would see a select group of fans – perhaps the friends and families of the fighters, plus some celebrities and other dignitaries – invited to UFC 257. The rest of the tickets for the event could then be sold off at a massively high price.
Sure, along with current COVID-19 restrictions, the likelihood of many of McGregor’s Irish fanbase being able to attend UFC 257 would then plummet. But the UFC would at least be able to recoup some kind of gate receipts, making McGregor’s massive paycheque seem worth it.
Either way, the likelihood is that we won’t find out exactly what White’s plans are until 2021 begins. But if the UFC’s actions during the pandemic have taught us anything, it’s not to doubt Dana White when he says something’s going to happen. And that makes UFC 257, its location, and it's potential for having fans in attendance a story that will only continue to develop from here.
