Why UFC Fight Island was a mirage all along

The concept and promotion of the UFC’s first card on Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island promised so much character, but the event delivered very little, writes Alex Pattle

UFC's beach Octagon on 'Fight Island' in Abu Dhabi (UFC)

As the sand settles on the first UFC Fight Island event, we’re left to reflect in its golden shores on how the card in Abu Dhabi played out.

Actually, such imagery is rather deceptive, but that’s fitting. See, Fight Island was a mirage all along.

To the initiated, that shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. A hazardous sport would be made all the more hazardous by stray, windswept sand and the blinding Yas Island sun, so a Fight Island event was never likely to be held in the open air of an Abu Dhabi beach.