Starting with
UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar, a limited number of fans were allowed inside the newly built
Etihad Arena, marking the first time since
UFC 248 in March 2020 that non-essential event personnel were 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 welterweight bout between
Leon Edwards and
Khamzat Chimaev was originally expected to headline this event. They were initially scheduled to serve as the headliner for
UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal in December, but the contest was scrapped due to Edwards suffering from severe symptoms of
COVID-19. In turn, Chimaev pulled out of the contest on December 29 due to his own COVID-19 recovery. Edwards had hoped to remain on the card against a replacement, but promotion officials intended to leave the pairing intact and reschedule it again for a later date in 2021. As a result, a welterweight bout between
The Ultimate Fighter: Live lightweight winner
Michael Chiesa and
Neil Magny served as the main-event. A women's flyweight bout between former
UFC Women's Flyweight Championship challenger
Roxanne Modafferi and
Viviane Araújo was briefly linked to an event expected to take place on January 30. However, the fight was rescheduled and took place at this event instead.
Matt Schnell and
Tyson Nam met in a flyweight bout at this event. The pairing was previously scheduled to take place in September at
UFC Fight Night: Waterson vs. Hill, but the fight was canceled on the day of the event's weigh-in as Schnell was deemed medically unfit to compete due to complications related to his weight cut. They were first rebooked for
UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Neal, before being moved to this event. In late December 2020, the UFC opted against holding an event on a planned January 30 date and decided to reschedule several bouts to this card: • A welterweight bout between former
WEC Welterweight Champion and former interim
UFC Welterweight Champion Carlos Condit and
Matt Brown. Finally, they were moved to
UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar. 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 flyweight bout between
Jeff Molina and
Zarrukh Adashev. They were briefly expected to meet at
UFC Fight Night: Felder vs. dos Anjos, but were eventually rescheduled for the scrapped date. Yet again, Molina withdrew from the event at the end of December due to a positive COVID-19 test and was replaced by
Su Mudaerji. • A light heavyweight bout between
Vinicius Moreira and
Isaac Villanueva. The pairing was rescheduled once again in early January as they were moved to
UFC 258 due to undisclosed reasons. • A women's flyweight bout between promotional newcomers
Victoria Leonardo and
Natália Silva. In turn, Silva pulled out due to a fractured
ulna and was replaced by fellow newcomer
Manon Fiorot. A welterweight bout between
Mike Jackson and Dean Barry was briefly linked to this event. However, the pairing was scrapped due to undisclosed reasons. Another matchup that was shortly booked was a middleweight fight between
Dalcha Lungiambula and Isi Fitikefu. However, Fitikefu was removed due to an elbow injury and replaced by
Markus Perez. A bantamweight bout between promotional newcomers
Umar Nurmagomedov and
Sergey Morozov was initially scheduled to take place at
UFC 254, but Nurmagomedov pulled out due to an illness. The pairing was then rescheduled for
UFC 257. However, the bout was yet again rescheduled to take place at this event. A middleweight bout between
Omari Akhmedov and
Tom Breese was originally scheduled for
UFC on ABC: Holloway vs. Kattar. However, the pairing was rescheduled to take place at this event due to "COVID-19 related issues". ==Results==