First time for sports

President and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Dana White, has come out swinging ahead of the Riyadh Season Noche UFC which, for the first time ever for a sporting event, will take place live at The Sphere in Las Vegas.

greatest sporting event of all time

White stated the Sphere show “will be badass” and that all the excitement and visual effects will transform live sports. The Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday said White was “uncharacteristically calm” ahead of his promise to stage the greatest sporting event of all time next Saturday in Vegas.

The inference is that White has the confidence and nerves of steel to back up his claims, despite the pressure that must come with the Sphere show exceeding the preliminary product budget by $12m.

According to media reports, the UFC 306 show will attempt to marry the immersive technology of the Sphere with the twists and turns of a live sporting event.

White stated he was “extremely confident” the historic event would both be a success and a game changer, stating: “We’re good to go. It’s just all about rehearsing and making sure it goes off seamlessly.”

Changing the game

Mixing an explosive and authentic athletic competition with Vegas’s slickest big-budget production venue for the first time is going to make headlines, whether or not the event, sponsored by a subsidiary of the Saudi Arabia government, is a success. ?

According to the LV-RJ, White’s confidence comes from him and his team seeing the Sphere’s production values first hand, having rehearsed the show “for the better part of a year.”

According to ESPN, UFC 306 is a tribute to Mexican Independence Day and throughout the night, Sphere’s giant wraparound LED screen and epic-quality sound system “will tell the story of combat sports in Mexico.”

White talked up the back story a few weeks ago as “a love letter to the Mexican people and their culture.”

And the CEO is stoked, on Tuesday stating he was excited to see how viewers will react to the event. “I’m ready to hear it all, the good and the bad. The criticism from the media, the people, everybody.”

I’m fascinated to hear what everyone thinks.”

There are ten bouts taking place at The Sphere, with the main fight between ranking bantamweight champ Sean O’Malley and Merab Dvalishvili, and the rest featuring a “Mexico-born or Mexican American fighter.”

Sports world watching

White is all too aware it’s not just the public and critics about to experience the event, but also the sporting world, especially considering UFC 306 at Sphere is the first live sports even taking place there.

The UFC exec believes a lot of sports events have lost their wow factor through both lack of creativity and “the technology to dream bigger.”

“I mean, you go to a Lakers game and you have a guy juggling and the mascots dunking balls at halftime,” White jibed.

The UFC CEO believes his groundbreaking show could make the big sporting bodies rethink their approach to live sports. “I love being first. I love doing things that people believe can’t be done,” he asserted.