A venue has not been confirmed for UFC 253: Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa, but Fight Island is a likely candidate.
Adesanya defends his middleweight gold against Costa at the pay-per-view event. A location for the title encounter has not been revealed at this time, but UFC President Dana White says the bout could happen on Fight Island.
“We’ll be announcing (the location) soon. But obviously it’s looking like Fight Island,” White said to Complex (via Adam Martin of BJPenn.com).
Fight Island was the home to four UFC cards in July, beginning with UFC 251 and ending with UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till. White also predicts that Fight Island is going to be the new fight capital of the world, replacing Las Vegas in that role.
“A lot of the big fights that are international are going to be on Fight Island. I told everybody the last time we were there, people sort of thought this was a one-and-done or whatever, it’s not. We’re going to be at Fight Island. Abu Dhabi is going to end up being the fight capital of the world. It definitely isn’t Las Vegas,” says White.
UFC 253 is scheduled to take place on September 19 but there are reports the card could move to September 26. Adesanya vs. Costa for the UFC middleweight title will headline the event. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which streams live on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
