It wasn't that popular in the U.K. either.
The UFC only got about 12,000 paid attendance in an arena that (from what I understand) can seat almost twice that many people. And there were actually local fighters on the card, which there aren't for UFC 112.
The reason the UFC is holding the event in Abu Dhabi has nothing to do with the popularity of the sport in the region and everything to do with trying to (a) make the UFC into an international brand, which they are most emphatically not right now, and (b) lend recognition to Abu Dhabi as a Las Vegas-esque landmark.
Obviously, for the people on here, the former is more important than the later. The later is important to the UFC in that as Abu Dhabi grows (and it will) the fight culture that will be attached to its growing reputation is MMA (and the UFC, in particular) and not boxing, as it is in Vegas.
The former is the short term goal, and while it's clear that the UFC has a long way to go in cultivating a local following in the UAE (a much longer way than it had to go getting fans in the U.K., because of the presence of British fighters in the UFC) If/when they do, it's going to be a huge win for the sport in terms of cultivating international respect, which is what the UFC seems to be slowly working towards.