UFC 251: recap of Fight Island

Did you miss the UFC 251 Fight Island action? It was a record setting night both in and out of the cage. Let's talk about the high, and low points of the evening. Although, there was some great action in the under card, we are going to stick to the main event.

The good

The man made Yas Island proved to be a great venue for the event. Thousands of tests were done to ensure safety. Thus it proved to be a good environment to compete. Here is what went well on Fight Island in the United Arab Emirates.

Amanda Ribas

The Brazilian looked amazing in her first round submission of Paige VanZant. Her Flyweight debut was a perfectly executed strategy.

Rose Namajunas vs. Jéssica Andrade

The fight of the night was an amazing rematch that we wish we could have 5 rounds. Rose avenged her loss to Jessica in an electric decision.

Title fights

Kamarudeen Usman, Alexander Volkanovski, Petr Yan all emerged with gold around their waist. All 3 title fights went into 5 rounds. As a result, we got to see a lot of minutes of championship action. Jose Aldo, and Max Holloway were extremely competitive even going into the last round. Some on social media even claiming they believe Max Holloway should have won the decision.

Petr Yan

The new undisputed champion landed a record 194 significant strikes. This is a testament to Petr Yan's skill and Jose Aldo's toughness.

The meh

No disrespect to anyone, but as a paying viewer we had some thoughts.

Usman vs Masvidal

The first round was pretty wild. After that it settled into a strategic chess match with Kamarudeen dominating with wrestling and control. Not very exciting, however a win is a win. Hats off to Jorge taking the fight on 6 days notice.

The referee in Yan vs Aldo

Yan is a brutal striker, and it was evident by the damage on Aldo's face. Nonetheless, the ref seemed overly confident in Jose. He let him take too much damage before calling the fight via TKO. The ref has hard job, and no one wants an early stoppage. Yet it was evident that the ref, and Aldo's corner failed him by not throwing in the towel 10-20 seconds earlier. Fighter safety is always paramount.

Paige VanZant

We have always liked Paige, but if you are going to ask for more money you have to preform. I do agree fighters should be paid more, but that sentiment carries more weight after a win. Unfortunately, Paige made this statement a day before being submitted at 2:21 of the first round. Subsequently, Dana White highly encouraged her to seek more money in free agency. We would love to see her back in the UFC, focused and grabbing wins.

UFC 251: Fight Island Press conference

Watch the full post fight press conference by clicking here. You can also see when Grunt Style teamed up with MMA legend Donald Cowboy Cerrone by clicking here.