UFC President Dana White invested 20 million dollars into what he called the greatest live sporting event of all time. 1 week before the unpreccedented event ticket prices have dropped over 2,000 dollars.
The sphere offers unparalleled entertainment like the world has never seen before. Costing 2.3 billion dollars the groundbreaking creation boasts 580,000 square feet of 16k resolution wraparound LED screens not to mention the venue seating nearly 17,500. The orb remains animated 24/7 with billboards and 3d artwork.
The original purpose of the sphere was to host award shows and concerts but come September 14th the sphere will be put to the test like never before.
Mixed Martial arts will take center stage at the sphere come September 14th. The UFC is the premier organization for MMA and will be looking to pull off an unforgettable night for fans across the world.
The event pays tribute to Mexican Independence Day and plans to celebrate the rich history of Mexico and combat sports. Mexican combat sports is traditionally associated with boxing as there have been numerous icons and champions in the boxing world. MMA is a newer sport but still has a good number of Mexican Champions and a large Mexican fanbase.
Riyadh Season Noche UFC will utilize the spheres unique atmosphere by showing 90 second stories between fights that celebrate the history of Mexico and Mexican combat sports. Producing these films is Academy Award nominated producer and director Carlos Lopez Estrada.
Being such an unprecedented event with so much intrigue you might be wondering why the drastic decrease in ticket prices. The truth is there are no simple answers but there are reason for this decline.
The event is headlined by Bantamweight superstar turned Champion Sean O’Malley facing off against his most difficult test in Merab Dvalishvili. The Co-Main event is the trilogy fight between The Ultimate Fighter Season 32 Coaches Alexa Grasso vs Valentina Shevchenko for the Flyweight Championship. In the feature fight is a fight originally scheduled for UFC 303, top ranked Brian Ortega and Diego Lopes clash to make a claim for the next featherweight title shot.
Now seeing these first three fights you would believe that this card would continue to add names and be a truly memorable event for the ages. But as you look at the card before these three you see that the fights before lack any name value to the casual UFC fan and are completely unrecognizable to the average sporting fan.
Unranked fighters fill the main card and prelims which is something you wouldn’t expect out of “the greatest live sporting event of all time”. For comparison the next UFC PPV takes place in Utah and includes 8 ranked fights while the Sphere card only includes 3.
The Depth of the card is not the only issue. The UFC’s biggest competitor continues to be boxing and come Sep 14 they are going head to head with Boxings biggest superstar. Canelo Alvarez will be taking on Edgar Berlanga for the Super-middleweight WBO,WBC and WBA titles just three miles down the road at T-mobile Arena.
Unlike O’Malley Canelo is a Mexican icon and will likely claim the Mexican fanbase for Mexican Independence day Weekend. Fans would also likely be more willing to the starting price of $500 for tickets rather than the UFCs starting price of $3,000.
The sphere has dabbled in the sporting world before. In 2024 the NHL Draft was hosted in the Sphere and was viewed as a major success for both parties. Now it’s time to see how the sphere handles a live sporting event.
If the UFC has a successful live event they could pave the way for other sports to utilize the sphere for major sporting events. Could you imagine the ticket prices if they hosted a NBA Championship Game within the sphere. This is not far from a possibility considering the NBA ran adds promoting their In Season Tournament. With the NBA currently needing big headlines and views for their new In Season Tournament what better place to host it than the Sphere.
Riyadh Season Noche UFC has huge implications for the future of sports entertainment. With a success they could pave the way for leagues such as the NBA or NHL to host Live games in the Sphere. On the other hand the UFC could suffer a huge financial loss and leave a bad taste with the sphere and live sporting events.
