THE OCTAGON RETURNS TO ABU DHABI FOR UFC 242

Posted July 10, 2019

The UFC has formally declared its return to Abu Dhabi, the capital of United Arab Emirates, on September 7. The announcement said that the UFC will maintain a number of events in Abu Dhabi within the next five years since it came to a”groundbreaking new venture” with the town’s Department of Culture and Tourism. You may read more about the UFC’s deal here.
UFC 242 is going to probably be the first time that the Octagon has landed in Abu Dhabi because UFC Fight Night 39 back in April 2014, when Roy Nelson pumped out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at the primary event. UFC 242 will be the second time the advertising has held a pay-per-view event in Abu Dhabi after UFC 112 back in April 201, the nighttime Frankie Edgar took the UFC lightweight title from BJ Penn..
The UFC has not formally announced any bouts for UFC 242, but rumors continue to swirl about a big title fight headlining the card. Rumors out there point to UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov trying to unite his title with interim UFC lightweight winner Dustin Poirier. That battle produces a lot of sense considering Nurmagomedov’s Muslim heritage, and the timeframe is perfect because of the champ taking the summer off for Ramadan.
The UFC returning to Abu Dhabi is clearly a fantastic thing for the promotion as this five-year deal will no doubt bring a great deal of extra money to the UFC’s coffers. It remains to be seen if the fighters are going to find any share of that, but the fact the UFC continues to hold events around the planet is a fantastic thing as it will provide local fighters in the Middle East presumably the opportunity to sign with the UFC and struggle within the Octagon. We don’t have any rumors of who will be battling about the card, however you can bet that fighters with a Middle Eastern or Muslim background is going to be reserved for this event.
Besides this statement of UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi, there are rumors out there that the UFC will visit Australia in October for the middleweight title unification bout between champion Robert Whittaker and interim champ Israel Adesanya. It appeared like initially the plan was for those two to struggle in September, but the timing has made it that struggle is most likely going to take place in October. That’s also a fantastic thing for Jack Hermansson, that has been requesting to headline the UFC’s return to Copenhagen, also in October, as the timeline of that would give him the ideal opportunity to fight the winner of the bout.
With UFC 242 being declared for September, we finally have confirmation there’ll be another pay-per-view in July following UFC 239, and yet another in August, since the UFC must compensate to its cancellation of UFC 233 back in January.
Don’t forget to remain tuned to MMAOB to receive the latest news and updates for UFC Abu Dhabi and all of the advertising’s other events as fresh struggles continue to be announced almost everyday in what is shaping up to be a rather busy 2019.
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