Dana White’s ‘Fight Island’ is beginning to take shape.
The UFC president outlined to Eddie Hearn on Tony Bellew on their podcast recently that the island (of which the man details remain scant) should be ready to host its first event later this month, also describing how the project has been an almost preposterously expensive undertaking.
Things, though, appear to be falling into place and news of one of the first fight bookings for the island has been issued by the promotion when it was revealed that top middleweight contender Kelvin Gastleum will take on the Swede Jack Hermansson.
As initially reported by ESPN, the two will meet on the island on July 18.
Both men will come into the fight on the back of defeats. Gastelum has lost two straight, though both of them came in very high profile contests with Israel Adesanya and Darren Till. Hermansson, meanwhile, was last seen in action last September where his four-fight win streak was snapped by suffering a second round TKO defeat to Jared Cannonier.
Gastelum had expressed interest in a fight with Hermansson, telling MMA Fighting recently: “In my opinion, a fight with Jack Hermansson would make sense. We’re both coming off losses. He’s in the top-five. A win for either of us would take us where we need to go.”
