UFC 251 on Fight Island: How to Watch, What Time and What Channel

Saturday night, the UFC goes international with the first of four events on Fight Island. UFC 251 will feature an octagon on the beach at Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, as well as three highly-anticipated title fights. Here’s when the pay-per-view action takes place.

UFC 251 will air on ESPN+ as part of the ongoing deal between Dana White’s company and the Worldwide Leader in Sports. The early preliminaries will begin at 6 p.m. ET and will be available to subscribers of the streaming platform. The action continues with the prelims at 8 p.m. ET, which airs on both ESPN and ESPN+. The main card, which is a pay-per-view, begins at 10 p.m. ET.

Current subscribers of ESPN+ will have to pay $64.99 to access UFC 249. New subscribers can purchase a year of the streaming platform and the pay-per-view for $84.98. The streaming app is available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Apple TV, Roku, Android and iOS devices, Google Chromecast and Amazon Fire TV.

UFC 251 features a high-profile feud as its main event following Gilbert Burns withdrawing due to a positive COVID-19 test. Jorge Masvidal stepped in to challenge welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. The pair first got into a heated shouting match in the week leading up to Super Bowl LIV in Miami and have been preparing for a confrontation ever since. Masvidal only had six days to prepare for this fight, but he plans on knocking out his opponent.

“He is nowhere near as good as advertised,” Masvidal said prior to UFC 251, per DAZN. “That’s why I’m here, I’m going to prove it. I think he’s mentally weak, and I can’t blame the guy either. He’s got 17 personalities. He should have had them diagnosed, and maybe each one of his personalities needs to be on Adderall or some type of substance, so he doesn’t have so many personalities.”

In addition to the primary title fight, two other belts are on the line during Saturday’s card. Alexander Volkanovski defends his featherweight title against Max Holloway while Peter Yan and Jose Aldo will fight for the vacated bantamweight title. Henry Cejudo previously defended the title during UFC 249 but retired following his victory over Dominick Cruz.

Two battles in the women’s division round out Saturday’s main card, including the long-awaited return of one Paige VanZant. She previously fought in January 2019 but remained out of action for over a year. Now VanZant will return to action against Amanda Ribas during a flyweight bout. Jessica Andrade will follow as she takes on Rosa Namajunes in a strawweight fight.