Dana White has been busy promoting UFC Fight Island for months. During the planning for the infrastructure at YAS Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, the UFC boss trademarked the term “UF-Sea” which was initially proposed by late-night host John Oliver.
During a segment mocking the branding of Fight Island, Oliver said, “He could have called it ‘Brawlhamas,’ or ‘Puerto Ruckus,’ or ‘Owie Maui,’ or ‘Slam Miguel,’ but he didn’t do that. He didn’t do that, and he didn’t even go with the obvious name for an island where you stage UFC fights which is simply, ‘UF-SEA.’ Look at me Dana. Why didn’t you just call it ‘UF-SEA? It’s perfect.”
While White confirmed that the idea was inspired by the Last Week Tonight host, he said that he would not be sharing any profits generated from “UF-Sea” sales.
And while that hasn’t changed, White has since said he will be donating all proceeds from “UF-Sea” merchandise to a charity that Oliver is a proud supporter of, the Bob Woodruff Foundation.
“He was making fun of ‘Fight Island’ and basically saying ‘this idiot is going to build an island where people can fight during COVID-19’ and all this stuff,” White said, as transcribed by MMA Fighting. “I’m actually a John Oliver fan. So I went out and I trademarked — he said you should have just called it ‘UFC-Sea’ — so I trademarked UFC-Sea. Then he went out and bought a trademark of ours that had lapsed and he’s actually doing baby onesies that say ‘you will submit’ or something like that.
“My t-shirts are done. These are going to go up for sale on the UFC website. They’re going up this week and all proceeds to these t-shirts — I did some research and John Oliver, one of his big charities is the Bob Woodruff Foundation. The Woodruff Family Foundation mission is to ensure injured post 9/11 service members, veterans and their families are thriving long after they return home. So that’s one of his big charities. So all the money from the UF-Sea shirts are going to go to one of John Oliver’s charities.”
The shirts are currently on sale for $35 on the UFC Shop website. The product description reads, “100% of profits from sales will benefit the Bob Woodruff Foundation, which raises funds to support veterans and their families, both during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.”
UFC Fight Island will officially launch this weekend with UFC 251 on Saturday, July 11. The pay-per-view event is features a championship tripleheader with the welterweight, featherweight, and bantamweight titles on the line.
