Dana White has been promoting the hell of of UFC 306 aka Riyadh Season Noche UFC at the MSG Sphere, saying the September 14th show is going to be the most spectacular event the promotion has ever held. And how could it not be, considering the fights are being held inside a 16K resolution wraparound LED screen?
We’re starting to hear a little bit more about how the UFC Sphere show will look: there will be 90 second acts in between fights that form a larger film that tells the story of Mexico and Mexican combat sports. Then the fights will take place in different ‘worlds’ … what that looks like, we don’t know. Will the UFC strip things down for the fights to avoid sensory overload? Will the fighters be getting blasted by disorienting lights and visuals as they try to compete?
In a new interview with Grind City Media, White admitted he wasn’t sure how the venue might affect the fights themselves.
“We don’t know. We won’t know until late Saturday night,” he said. “You know, I won’t do outdoor arenas because of wind, bugs, rain, and lots of other things that can happen. But this is still a controlled environment where on September 14th, sports and entertainment are truly gonna come together at the same time. Does it work? Is it great? Is it awesome? Does it suck? We don’t know. We won’t know until it’s over, but we’re gonna try it.”
If things don’t work out, it won’t be for a lack of effort or preparedness.
“We’re gonna rehearse the s— out of this thing,” White said. “I’ll still know every detail. What I don’t know is if this works
“It will be fascinating to pull off a sporting event here where we’re basically doing movies. There will be a movie that night and in between movies, you know, we call them chapters of the movie, there will be fights. And you’ll see our thought process and how we laid it out and how we figured this would work that night. But at the end of the night, we’ll know whether it does [work] or it doesn’t.”
It’s been exciting watching White pull the UFC out of it’s regular groove (rut?) and do something so strange and different. Even if it falls short of expectations and production can’t quite gel the Sphere’s trippy capabilities with the singular focus needed for sports broadcasting, it sure beats just another event at the UFC Apex or T-Mobile Arena.
Well Dana, ya blew it. This card fucking sucks and there is zero hype behind this event. Unranked flyweights on the main card? Fuck outta here… what a wasted opportunity to capitalize on The Sphere.
Put In 20M to create it , 3000.00 For Garbage seats , Garbage card. They Know Now !
It’s so disappointing and makes zero sense. Why not celebrate Mexican Independence Day in… Idk… Mexico? Why the fuck are we wasting The Sphere on this? Especially after being told this would “blow our minds and be the biggest event ever!” Calling this PPV “mid” would be giving this event too much credit. Why were the Saudis needed for this slop we are being served exactly? UFC can’t afford to pay Ode Osbourne??
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I’ve actually kinda curious about how they’re gonna do this.
As far the portion of the cage that is right by the giant backdrop, I’ve wondered if they’ll have some sort of covering outside the cage, at least a bit above about eye level, so the fighters aren’t distracted by all of those lights and graphics.
I have no idea what the Sphere is like, so I’m just going by how I’m imagining this will be set up.
Seems like a lot of “backtracking” on this event.
First it was about the celebration of Mexican fighters/fighting spirit. Then the event gets awkwardly named b/c the Saudi’s wanted their branding on the Sphere.
Then when the card ended up being pedestrian at best, it was about having to see this event b/c it’s the first sporting event ever held at the sphere. You have to be a part of history.
Now it’s, who the hell knows what’s going to happen. Dana had zero problems throwing the fighters under the bus that had to fight at 3:00-5:00 AM in Manchester, but it seems like he’s ready to make excuses before this event. Hmmm…
I think it’s hilarious that he’s publicly acting like 20M to produce this show is such a big deal. 20M with what they make a year? Lmao they are the cheapest pricks on the planet. They won’t have 5M in fighter pay so they will still net a good chunk for this terrible card. They expect the gate to be 21M so I can’t help but laugh at everything Dana has said about the cost of the show
I just don’t get having such a weak card. They blew it before it even started. And now he’s saying it could be bad logistically?
They are fucking cheap. They had the sport by the balls and refused to revenue share. Killing the fucking sport imo.
Save your money for a stacked PPV card.
Having been to the Sphere, I can’t see this working for an MMA or boxing event at all
This is gonna be a gigantic flop.
We have to pass the Noche to find out what’s in it.
