Dana White’s imaginative and prescient for UFC 306 is beginning to come to gentle.
The UFC CEO on Tuesday revealed the primary particulars of his manufacturing plan for the Sept. 14 occasion at Las Vegas’ famed Sphere venue, which White has repeatedly known as “a love letter” to Mexican fight sports activities.
“So what we’ve carried out, actually what we’re going to do on September 14 takes over a 12 months to do. We’re doing it in 4 months,” White mentioned Tuesday on The Pat McAfee Present. “So, when the present begins, we’re going to have the prelims, after which we’re going to inform — all through the remainder of the evening — the historical past of fight in Mexico, from the start of time and into the long run. So the primary battle of the evening will begin in the beginning of time, the primary occasion would be the way forward for Mexico. That’s the primary time I’ve ever talked about this.”
UFC 306 contains a 10-fight card headlined by two title bouts, as UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley faces Merab Dvalishvili in the primary occasion and UFC girls’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso places her belt on the road in a trilogy bout towards Valentina Shevchenko. Grasso is the primary Mexican UFC girls’s champion and her most up-to-date bout towards Shevchenko headlined UFC’s inaugural Noche UFC occasion in September 2023.
The Sphere is a $2.3 billion venue that contains a 160,000 square-foot 16K-resolution wraparound display inside and customarily seats between 18,000 to twenty,000 individuals. White has touted the pay-per-view present as a one-off, resulting from it being the costliest manufacturing in promotional historical past, with greater than $17 million already spent. Nevertheless, with the most cost effective tickets priced within the 1000’s, TKO Group Holdings chief monetary officer Andrew Schleimer mentioned the occasion might find yourself producing the biggest dwell gate in firm historical past.
“Look, we’re bullish,” Schleimer mentioned on an investor name in early August. “We’ve talked clearly about this being a cultural occasion and Dana has publicly said how far more [invested UFC is] on this occasion, and clearly that is going to be a large spectacle for these within the area and for these at residence.
“On the highest facet, this will likely be one of many largest gates if not meaningfully the biggest gate that we’ve ever carried out, and on the fee facet, it’s going to be the only largest funding that we’re making in an occasion. It’s much more costly than we initially anticipated.”
With a month to go till the large day, White is worked up to point out off what UFC put collectively, but in addition is aware of he should ship on the spectacle he’s promised for greater than a 12 months.
“Hear, we’ve to execute, however this factor goes to be — if you’re even this a lot Mexican, you will love this occasion on Mexican Independence Day on the Sphere,” White mentioned. “I assure you. It’s so badass.”
UFC 306’s full card lineup could be seen right here.