The UFC is gearing up for its summer schedule.
On Tuesday, four title fights were announced, and the location of Fight Island was finally revealed: Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The first event in the city will be UFC 251 on July 11, which will feature Kamaru Usman versus Gilbert Burns for the welterweight title, a featherweight title rematch between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway, and Petr Yan against Jose Aldo for the vacant bantamweight belt.
After UFC 251, the promotion will hold three more events in Abu Dhabi in July, which, of course, will come after the three remaining events in June at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.
And if you thought the schedule couldn't get any more stacked, the trilogy fight between heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and former titleholder Daniel Cormier is set for UFC 252 on Aug. 15.
Here are four takeaways from the UFC's announcement of its summer events.
Miocic-Cormier 3 was a must
It would've been a major letdown if the trilogy bout between Miocic and Cormier never came to fruition.
For starters, their series is tied at 1-1 and the two fights couldn't have turned out much differently. Cormier flattened Miocic with a huge first-round knockout in July 2018 to capture the title. In the rematch, Miocic made some in-fight adjustments and worked the body to stop "DC" in the fourth round in August 2019. After the second fight, which was competitive in the early rounds, a rubber match became very intriguing.
Additionally, the stakes will be extremely high, as the fight will arguably determine the greatest heavyweight of this era - if not of all time.
During his first title reign, Miocic broke the UFC record for most heavyweight title defenses at three. As a result, he's widely considered the most dominant heavyweight in the promotion's history and one of the best in the sport's history.
But if Cormier could secure a second win, it's impossible to think he wouldn't be at least in consideration for that distinction. While much of his UFC career has taken place at 205 pounds, "DC" does boast earlier heavyweight wins over Antonio Silva, Josh Barnett, Frank Mir, and Roy Nelson.
Cormier has said this will be his last fight before retirement, so this is his chance to ride off into the sunset on top. For Miocic, he needs a win to leave no doubt that he's the best and keep his legacy intact.
Usman-Burns a solid Plan B, but not the right fight
Usman versus Burns is a fascinating matchup, especially when you consider that they train together at Sanford MMA in Florida.
But this was not the ideal title defense for Usman - even if Burns might deserve the opportunity - and the UFC knows that. The promotion reportedly tried one last time to finalize Usman against Jorge Masvidal for July 11 and asked Leon Edwards if he could fight before offering the title shot to "Durinho."
Ultimately, Usman-Masvidal was the fight - not just the top option at 170 pounds, but arguably one of the biggest and best title fights the UFC could put together right now. Masvidal rose to superstardom after winning three straight fights in 2019, and he has real beef with the champion. Plus, you can't get a better stylistic matchup than Usman's wrestling against Masvidal's striking.
Masvidal said in an interview this past weekend that someone else was willing to take the fight for less money, and that may have been what this came down to. "Gamebred" previously said the UFC wasn't willing to give him what he believes he's worth. It's unclear if Masvidal was talking about Burns specifically, but it's not unreasonable to think the Brazilian would be willing to fight Usman for less than Masvidal, as he doesn't carry anywhere near the same name value.
It's unfortunate that the UFC seemingly wasn't willing to pay up, because we could've - and should've - seen one of the best fights of the year between Usman and Masvidal. Instead, all we're getting is Plan B - or maybe even Plan C.
Title rematch risks Holloway's future as a contender
When Volkanovski took away the belt from Holloway at UFC 245 last December, "The Great" left no doubt about who the best featherweight on the planet was.
Volkanovski earned a clear-cut decision victory, and Holloway showed nothing over the 25-minute bout that makes me believe he can make something of his opportunity to avenge the loss.
Additionally, Holloway had only defended the title three times since winning it in June 2017. The Hawaiian's reign was impressive, but it didn't quite warrant an immediate rematch, especially considering the first meeting was lopsided.
I understand the idea behind a rematch - there's no obvious No. 1 contender in the division. Chan Sung Jung is coming off a pair of TKO wins over Frankie Edgar and Renato Moicano, but he's only won two straight. Zabit Magomedsharipov and Yair Rodriguez are close to deserving title shots but aren't quite ready.
So, running back Volkanovski versus Holloway could allow one of the aforementioned fighters to emerge as a clear-cut challenger and set up a highly anticipated title fight.
But it also could eliminate Holloway as a contender for good if he drops back-to-back fights against the champion - that's never a good spot to be in. And during Holloway's title reign, he seemed like a fairly marketable fighter. Letting him work his way back up to another crack at the belt seemed to be in the UFC's best interest, not immediately throwing him in there with someone who appears to have his number.
Fight Island is in ... Abu Dhabi?
For the fighters who were looking forward to competing in a beachside Octagon in the middle of the ocean, there's bad news.
It turns out that Fight Island has actually played host to three UFC events, and as recently as last September - it's Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
UFC president Dana White confirmed the location of Fight Island on Tuesday, and even though it might not be exactly what fans were expecting, it shouldn't be much of a surprise.
The UFC signed a five-year deal with Abu Dhabi's Department of Culture and Tourism in 2019 to bring fight cards to the Middle Eastern city. This likely means the promotion will receive at least some help in setting up before the events - and it might not even have to cover all the expenses for the "safety zone," which includes the venue, hotel, and restaurants for fighters, coaches, and other personnel. Overall, hosting events in Abu Dhabi will be much easier than on an obscure private island.
Many fans bought into the Fight Island idea, largely thanks to the UFC's marketing tactics: T-shirts, White talking about the Octagon being on the beach, and so on. In retrospect, the UFC renting a tropical island seems like a fantasy that we should never have believed in the first place.