''UFC on ESPN: Holm vs. Aldana'' (also known as ''UFC on ESPN 16'' and ''UFC Fight Island 4'') was a
mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
event produced by the
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
that took place on October 4, 2020 at the
du Forum on
Yas Island
Yas Island ( ar, جزيرة ياس) is an island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It occupies a total land area of . It is a popular leisure island and one of the top tourism projects in Abu Dhabi. Yas Island holds the Yas Marina Circuit, w ...
,
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Background
Without fans in attendance, the promotion did not have to worry about the local timing of the event, so the plan was to proceed with normal timing for
prime time hours on the
east coast of North America. The main card was scheduled to begin at 6:30 am (October 4) local time in Abu Dhabi, with a full preliminary card beginning at approximately 3:30 am
Gulf Standard Time
UTC+04:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +04:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2019-02-07T23:28:34+04:00. This time is used in:
As standard time (year-round)
''Principal cities: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bak ...
.
A women's bantamweight bout between former
UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion Holly Holm
Holly Rene Holm (born October 17, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist, who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She is the former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, and a former professional boxer. She was a multiple-time wor ...
and
Irene Aldana
Irene Robles Aldana (born March 26, 1988) is a Mexican professional mixed martial artist. She currently competes in the Women’s Bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of May 23, 2022, she is #4 in the UFC women ...
served as the event headliner.
The pairing was originally scheduled to headline
UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Shahbazyan. However, it was reported on July 22 that Aldana had pulled out of the fight due to testing positive for COVID-19. Holm was also removed from the card as well, with the pairing left intact and ultimately rescheduled for this event.
Ben Sosoli was briefly linked to a heavyweight bout with
Yorgan de Castro. However, Sosoli pulled out of the fight in late July citing an eye surgery and was replaced by
Carlos Felipe
Carlos Felipe (born January 12, 1995) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight division. A professional since 2014, he most notably fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Background
Born in Feira de San ...
.
[ ]
A women's bantamweight bout between former
UFC Women's Flyweight Champion Nicco Montaño
Nicco Montaño (born December 16, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist who last competed in the bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. She was the inaugural UFC Women's Flyweight Champion.
Background
Of Navajo, Chickas ...
and
Julia Avila
Julia Aide Shumate Avila (born May 11, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Previously she has competed in Invicta FC, HD MMA, XKO MMA, Total Warrior Combat and King of the Cage ( ...
was originally scheduled for
UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Oleinik. However, due to Montaño’s coach John Wood testing positive for COVID-19, the bout was rescheduled for
UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Sakai. In turn, it was announced on August 29 that Montaño herself tested positive for
the disease and the bout was once again pushed back to this event. On September 3, it was announced that Montaño withdrew from the bout due to travel restrictions. In turn, Avila was rescheduled to face
Sijara Eubanks
Sijara Jihan Eubanks (born April 27, 1985) is an American professional mixed martial artist who currently fights in the women's bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Background
Eubanks was born and raised in Springf ...
at
UFC Fight Night: Waterson vs. Hill on September 12.
A light heavyweight bout between former
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships.
Historical notes
At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...
challengers
Thiago Santos and
Glover Teixeira
Glover Lucas Teixeira (; born 28 October 1979) is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champi ...
was initially scheduled to headline
UFC Fight Night: Waterson vs. Hill. However, the pairing was rescheduled for this event after Teixeira
tested positive for COVID-19 a week prior to the fight. On September 15, the bout was postponed again as Santos tested positive for the disease.
Charles Oliveira
Charles Oliveira da Silvahttp://boxing.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/boxingnvgov/content/results/2014_Results/12-12-14MMA.pdf (born October 17, 1989) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner. He currently com ...
was expected to face
Beneil Dariush
Beneil Khobier Dariush (born May 6, 1989) is an Assyrian-American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Lightweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of October 24, 2022, he is #4 in the UFC lightw ...
in a lightweight bout at the event. However, Oliveira pulled out of the fight in early September for undisclosed reasons and the bout was scrapped.
A bantamweight bout between
Casey Kenney
Casey James Kenney (born March 20, 1991) is an American mixed martial artist. He is currently competing in the Bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and he was the former Tachi Palace Fights Flyweight champion and L ...
and
Alateng Heili was originally expected to take place a week earlier at
UFC 253
''UFC 253: Adesanya vs. Costa'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on September 27, 2020 at the du Forum on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Background
The event was origi ...
. However, it was later moved to this event due to undisclosed reasons.
Danaa Batgerel
Danaa Batgerel (born July 4, 1989) is a Mongolian mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Background
Growing up in a rural region of Mongolia, Danaa began training kickboxing in 2007 ...
was expected to face
Kyler Phillips in a bantamweight bout at the event. However, it was announced on September 21 that Batgerel pulled out due to
travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries and regions imposed quarantines, entry bans, or other travel restrictions for citizens of or recent travelers to the most affected areas. Some countries and regions imposed global restrictions th ...
in Mongolia. He was replaced by promotional newcomer Cameron Else.
A heavyweight bout between former
UFC Heavyweight Champion
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships.
Historical notes
At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...
Andrei Arlovski
Andrei Arlovski (born 4 February 1979) is a Belarusian-American professional mixed martial artist, actor and former UFC Heavyweight Champion. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and ho ...
and
Tanner Boser
Tanner Vilbon Nicholas Boser (born August 2, 1991) is a Canadian mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter who is currently signed to the UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight division. He had previously competed for Unified MMA, where he won the ...
was briefly scheduled for this event, but was later moved to
UFC on ESPN: Santos vs. Teixeira due to Arlovski being ill.
A middleweight bout between
Tom Breese
Tom Breese (born 26 September 1991) is an English mixed martial artist who competes in the Middleweight division of Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki (KSW). A professional competitor since 2010, he formerly competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship ...
and Roman Kopylov was originally scheduled for this event, but Kopylov was removed from the bout on September 27 due to undisclosed reasons and replaced by KB Bhullar. The bout subsequently took place a week later at
UFC Fight Night: Moraes vs. Sandhagen.
Results
Bonus awards
The following fighters received $50,000 bonuses.
*Fight of the Night: No bonus awarded.
*Performance of the Night: Germaine de Randamie, Kyler Phillips, Duško Todorović, and Luigi Vendramini
See also
*
List of UFC events
*
List of current UFC fighters
*
2020 in UFC
The year 2020 was the 28th year in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.
Partnership
Starting in 2021, a partnership between the UFC and Dapper Labs's Flow platform ...
References
{{2020 in mixed martial arts
UFC on ESPN
2020 in mixed martial arts
2020 in Emirati sport
Mixed martial arts in the United Arab Emirates
Sports competitions in Abu Dhabi
October 2020 sports events in Asia