The first combat sports event was held at The Sphere in Las Vegas, last night as the UFC was once again in town. They used the venue to provide a visual homage and celebration to the country of Mexico, making full use of the giant screen between fights to showcase a story detailing the history of Mexican fighters. The production was received well by both fans and the media, leaving us all wondering if this really was a ‘one-and-done’ event at the new venue – Surely not?
Despite appearing to be a huge success, Dana White said that he is under contract with the MGM. Reading between the lines, if there weren’t contractual obligations in place preventing him from doing so, it seems as though the UFC President would be keen on returning to The Sphere. Although production costs exceeded $20 million, UFC 306 broke the record and was the highest-grossing UFC event of all time. Social media was awash with comments about how impressive the visual experience of The Sphere was, and in the coming days, we’ll see and hear more about what it was like inside the arena itself.
September 14, 2024, could be a pivotal date in UFC’s history as the company will hope that new fans will be attracted to the sport given the uniqueness of Noche UFC. Over the coming week, as fans post and share content from the event, there will probably be huge views on social media posts relating to the event.
”People come up to me and say ‘I became a fan (of The UFC) because I watched The Ultimate Fighter’. Now people say I became a fan during Covid. Our fan base grew 69% during covid. I think tonight’s event, some people probably tuned in for the first time. Hopefully, they’re big fans now” – said Dana White.
UFC 306 Main Card Recap
What also helps is the quality of tonight’s main card. Regardless of how things look on television, people are tuning into fights first and foremost. White will be a relieved man that most of the fights delivered. In the opener, Ronaldo Rodriguez survived an early scare as he was knocked down and almost submitted. The Mexican showed remarkable grit to avoid passing out and came back strongly in the second and third rounds, defeating Ode Osbourne via unanimous decision.
The next fight was even better and was easily the fight of the night. Daniel Zellhuber began the fight well and the first two rounds could have gone either way on the judge’s scorecards. Then, in the final round, Ribovics rocked him on numerous occasions. As Zellhuber wobbled to the cage wall, he somehow survived an onslaught of strikes from Ribovic before beginning to strike back in the final minute of the fight as the bout became a slugfest. Both men threw the kitchen sink at each other and Ribovic took the decision on the scorecards.
Diego Lopes earned even more fans as he comfortably beat the #3 ranked featherweight, Brian Ortega. ‘T-City’ was rocked a couple of times during the fight and had visible swelling on his lead leg from multiple low-kicks from Lopez. After winning on the scorecards, Diego Lopes is expected to make a huge jump in the rankings, from #12 to #3.
Alexa Grasso lost her women’s flyweight title as Valentina Shevchenko reclaimed the crown in impressive fashion. Much of the fight was spent on the ground and Shevchenko looked comfortable for most of the 25 minutes, aside from a spell where Grasso appeared close to choking her out.
In the main event, Merab Dvalishvili displayed sublime cardio as he pressured O’Malley for the whole fight, landing takedowns with relative ease. The fight began in a bizarre fashion as Herb Dean called a halt to the action due to Merab appearing to trade verbal exchanges with O’Malley’s coach, Tim Welch. Things got weirder in the second round as Merab had the champion in a chokehold against the cage and began kissing him on the back. The challenger then let go with five seconds left in the round (appearing to think the round was over) and O’Malley got up and punched him twice. Merab dominated for much of the remainder and won unanimously on the judge’s scorecards (49-46, 48-47×2.)
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