Mixed-Martial Arts Set To Be First Sporting Event at Las Vegas Sphere

Normally a UFC event is all about the fighters, their records, and the championship belts at stake. UFC 306 Saturday night at Las Vegas is all about the brilliance of the venue.The pay-per-view mixed-martial arts card is the first sports event at Sphere, the spectacular entertainment facility with a 160,000-square-foot round LED screen and concert-quality sound system. Since opening on September 29, 2023, the $2.3 billion venue has hosted a residency concert by U2 and other musical attractions but never a sporting event.“It’s one of the boxes you get to check off that you never even knew was a box” said Brian Ortega who will fight on the undercard. “To fight at Sphere, first event, the craziness going on with the technology, it’s like a weird motivation. It’s a happy motivation to go in there.’The event is being called “Riyadh Season Noche UFC,” a celebration of Mexican Independence Day weekend even though the main event features a matchup for the bantamweight championship between Sean O’Malley, an Irish-American from Montana, and Merab Dvalishvili, a native of the Republic of Georgia now living in New York. The Saudi Arabia government also has a sponsorship role.All of the undercard will feature at least one Mexico-born or Mexican-American fighter, including the co-main event where Alexa Grasso from Guadalajara defends her women’s flyweight title in a trilogy bout with former champion Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan.“I think that the experience is going to be huge,” Ms. Grasso said. “I’ve been there. I went to watch a show and it’s amazing. Now knowing there will be MMA fights in there with that experience and images…it’s huge. It give me chills. It’s amazing.”The biggest production in the history of UFC started with a budget of $8 million that swelled to more than $20 million, prompting UFC President Dana White to claim this will be a “one-and-done” event at least for now.“We will put on the greatest live sporting event of all-time,” Mr. White promised. “They people on this card are going to experience how special this event is going to be. You’ll never see anything like this again in your life.”The Sphere, initially called the MSG Sphere, was built by the Madison Square Garden Company as the most expensive entertainment venue at Las Vegas. It now dominates the dessert landscape. U2 staged its first live show since 2019 at Sphere and since last September staged 40 shows through March 2024. Dead & Company had a 30-show residency from May 16 to August 10, 2024, while the Eagles have scheduled 20 shows from September 20, 2024 to January 25, 2025.The venue is not designed to hold sports like basketball, ice hockey or indoor football, but can easily fit a cage or boxing ring, allowing spectators to feel in the middle of the action thanks to the interior display of the 160,000-square-foot sphere.“I’m sure the people that come are going to feel like they are fighting,” Mr. Dvalishvili said. “It’s going to be a little bit different for us as fighters, like when you are fighting with screens and TVs. But I’m OK because it’s going to be the same thing for my opponent. For fans, it will be crazy.”Tickets for UFC 306 on StubHub list from $730 for nosebleed seats to $3,230 for seats near the Octagon. Though a sellout crowd is expected, attendance for the UFC card could be impacted by a boxing event being held on the same night at nearby T-Mobile Arena.Popular Mexican champion Canelo Alvarez is defending his super middleweight belts against hard-punching Edgar Berlanga, a Puerto Rican-American from New York. A high-level boxing match has been part of Mexican Independence Day weekend at Las Vegas for decades.Yet, the most intriguing figure at Las Vegas this weekend could be Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, who is using his government’s wealth fund to attract world-class events in boxing, MMA and wrestling.He was instrumental in financially backing boxing’s Oleksandr Usyk’s heavyweight championship fight with Tyson Fury, and has a sponsorship role in UFC 306 with future combat events planned in Saudi Arabia and England.Mr. White said though UFC 306 is a “one-and-done” deal, it could have a lasting impact throughout the sports world.“I think this is a groundbreaking event,” Mr. White told ESPN, “in the fact that other leagues will look at this (and) will start to build these arenas or refurbish the old arenas. You start to think about the technology of the LED screens and all the things that are possible.”

Mixed-Martial Arts Set To Be First Sporting Event at Las Vegas Sphere

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