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UFC on ABC 1: Holloway vs. Kattar (also known as UFC Fight Island 7) is an upcoming mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that will take place on January 16, 2021 at the Flash Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.


Fight card

Main card (ABC / ESPN+)

Featherweight Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar
Welterweight Carlos Condit vs. Matt Brown
Welterweight Santiago Ponzinibbio vs. Li Jingliang
Middleweight Joaquin Buckley vs. Alessio Di Chirico
Middleweight Punahele Soriano vs. Duško Todorović

Preliminary card (ABC / ESPN+)

Middleweight Phil Hawes vs. Nassourdine Imavov
Women's Bantamweight Wu Yanan vs. Joselyne Edwards
Heavyweight Carlos Felipe vs. Justin Tafa
Welterweight David Zawada vs. Ramazan Emeev
Women's Bantamweight Sarah Moras vs. Vanessa Melo
Featherweight Jacob Kilburn vs. Austin Lingo


Background

The main card will mark the first time a UFC event will be broadcast on ABC. It also means the first return to network television since UFC on Fox: Lee vs. Iaquinta 2 was broadcast on Fox in December 2018.

After hosting nine events behind closed doors at the du Forum amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the UFC will make its debut at the newly built Etihad Arena. A limited number of fans will be allowed inside the venue, marking the first time since UFC 248 on March 2020 that non-essential event personnel will be in attendance. The venue has maximum capacity of over 18,000, but the UFC is expecting to have closer to 2,000 fans for each of the Fight Island's events during the week.

A featherweight bout between former UFC Featherweight Champion Max Holloway and Calvin Kattar is expected to serve as the event headliner.

A bantamweight bout between Ricky Simon and Brian Kelleher was initially scheduled to take place at UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Sakai, but Simon's cornerman tested positive for COVID-19 and he was forced to withdraw from the event. The pairing was then rescheduled for this event. In turn, Kelleher also tested positive on January 1 and was pulled from the bout. He was replaced by newcomer Gaetano Pirrello and the bout will take place four days later at UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny.

A women's bantamweight bout between former UFC Women's Bantamweight Championship challenger Bethe Correia and Wu Yanan was expected to take place at UFC on ESPN: Hermansson vs. Vettori. However, due to visa issues, they were rescheduled for this event. In turn, Correia had to pull out on January 5 due to appendicitis, which required an appendectomy. She was replaced by promotional newcomer Joselyne Edwards.

Muslim Salikhov was scheduled to face Santiago Ponzinibbio in a welterweight bout at the event. However, Salikhov pulled out of the bout in mid-December citing health issues after contracting COVID-19. He was replaced by Li Jingliang.

A flyweight bout between former UFC Flyweight Championship challenger Tim Elliott (also The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions flyweight winner) and Jordan Espinosa was expected to take place at this event. However, Espinosa tested positive for COVID-19 in late December and the pairing was moved to UFC 259.

A women's bantamweight bout between The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate bantamweight winner Julianna Peña and former title challenger Sara McMann (also 2004 Olympic silver medalist in wrestling) was originally scheduled for this event before being pushed back a week later to UFC 257.

The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3 middleweight winner Warlley Alves and Christian Aguilera were expected to meet in a welterweight bout. However, Aguilera pulled out in late December due to an injury. He was replaced by Mounir Lazzez and the pairing will take place at UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny.

A middleweight bout between five-time Brazilian Jiu Jitsu World Champion Rodolfo Vieira and Anthony Hernandez was expected to take place at this event. However, Hernandez pulled out due to a positive COVID-19 test and they were rescheduled for UFC 258.

A welterweight bout between former WEC Welterweight Champion and former interim UFC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit and Matt Brown was originally booked for a planned January 30 event. After the UFC opted against holding a card on that date, they were then briefly rescheduled for UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny. At last, they were booked for this event. The pairing has been previously cancelled as they were initially scheduled to meet at UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 in December 2013, but Brown pulled out due to an undisclosed injury. They were booked once again in April 2018 for UFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje, but Brown had to pull out a second time as he injured his anterior cruciate ligament.

A featherweight bout between Nik Lentz and Mike Grundy was scheduled for this event. However, a member of Grundy's team tested positive for COVID-19, hence Lentz was given a new opponent off Movsar Evloev who he will face at UFC 257 in a catchweight bout of 150 pounds.

During fight week, the UFC opted to move a middleweight bout between Omari Akhmedov and Tom Breese to UFC on ESPN: Chiesa vs. Magny due to "COVID-19 related issues".



Jan 8 - Updated fight card & background
Jan 14 - Updated fight card & background

Jan 8 - Updated fight card & background

I am just wondering if you will be including this event in the competition for 2021? Are you going to even have a competition in this year? If so will it be run from the start of the New Year UFC schedule or be done in a similar manner to last year. Please let us know further as to which events will be a part of the competition, or also if there will even be a competition in 2021.

Thank you.

Jan 14 - Updated fight card & background

@cain1753 No competition for this event. This event will not be part of the league of 2021.

Thank you for your reply. I know a great deal of work goes into making these competitions take place. It was also a monster chore to finalize last year's competition results in such a timely manner. Thank you for that. When you can I know you will let us know when the new season initiates (competition) and also post when there are breaks in the competition schedule and when it will resume. Regardless of which events are a part of the competition the playing field remains equal for all that choose to compete. The competitions quite simply make the events more meaningful. We have to invest time to do our own homework and also challenge our brains in order to make our picks. It is a lot of fun. Our pandemic filled world is not so much fun in the moment. However involvement in events like this that don't require one to step outside the front door are very much enjoyed and appreciated.

Thank you for that Dent!

Thank you brother for your appreciation!

We will have s low start of the league this year. But with a bang! First competition of 2021 will be UFC 257.

Thank you for your reply and also the confirmation on the first competition event. A PPV event is as good as any to start the new season off and ticks the box for the first month of the year.

Cheers!

Yeah exactly, and we started with McGregor last year, so I figured we would do it again for 2021