On Saturday night, the mixed martial arts leader returned for its latest pay-per-view event.
Noche UFC… I mean UFC 306… I mean Riyadh Season Noche UFC — that’s far too much choice for my brain to handle — was no ordinary MMA card. It was the very first live sporting event to take place inside the unique surroundings of the Sphere.
Dana White’s initial anger at the MGM for not alerting him to the PBC’s quick claim to the September 14 date to stage an always highly anticipated Canelo Álvarez outing birthed a new opportunity. The chance to put on an elaborate and expensive spectacle. The possibility to move beyond the arena setup we’re used to.
With great risk comes great reward. But with great superlatives — and boy did White and other UFC figures throw them around when describing what fans could expect — comes pressure to deliver.
Did they? More on that later.
Tasked with delivering in a different realm of entertainment were the fighters themselves, chief among them the four athletes entering the Octagon with gold on the line. The main event saw Sean O’Malley defend his belt against Merab Dvalishvili in a clash I’d have comfortably placed as the toughest to predict in 2024 in the lead-up. Oh, and the second toughest to predict came right beforehand as flyweight queen Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko completed their historic trilogy.
Elsewhere, the hottest rising name in the game Diego Lopes had his chance to climb into the featherweight top five against Brian Ortega, while Mexican standouts Daniel Zellhuber and Ronaldo Rodriguez looked to celebrate their nation’s independence in style.
But did all those names — and the $20 million Sphere show — come together to put on an exciting night of fights? Let’s find out with all the positives and negatives from Noche UFC 306.
Negative – Not Even For The Sphere?!
Is getting value for money just not a thing in North America?
Best believe that if I’m spending thousands on cageside tickets to a UFC event (probably should have chosen a career other than MMA writer…), I’m not missing a punch, kick, eye poke, low blow, stance switch or damn syllable that comes out of Bruce Buffer’s mouth.
It seems my fellow Europeans largely feel the same. It is rare to see a super empty venue upon the start of any preliminary card on this side of the pond. In the US, however, it seems to be the opposite. Countless T-Mobile Arena-held PPVs have shown that even the top lineups and spectacles don’t draw those affluent enough for the top seats to the venue on time.
But for the very first live sporting event at the Sphere, that was bound to change. Right? RIGHT?! Miraculously, no. We had the usual selection of absent attendees.
Is it really too much to ask for fighting events to be watched by people who actually like and are there for fighting? Can we not have some sort of 20-question quiz to weed out the fakes? Perhaps that would have given the opening fight of Noche UFC 306 less of an Apex feel to it.
Some empty seats probably didn’t warrant a full negative here, I admit. But it pissed me off and, well, this is my editorial, so that’s that.
Positive – A Mexican Backfist
The talk of Las Vegas for the past week has been the famed Mexican fighting spirit and toughness. We didn’t get a strong display of that in fight one at Noche UFC 306, but boy did we in the second.
Mexicali’s Edgar Cháirez may not have had many bouts in the UFC, but he’s done his nation proud plenty of times. From going toe-to-toe with the undefeated Tatsuro Taira in defeat on just two weeks’ notice to a first-round triangle choke submission against Daniel Lacerda, “Puro Chicali’s” Octagon fights (no contest aside) haven’t been short on highlights.
Well, we can add the best yet to that after Saturday night. In fact, we can add one of the best highlights of 2024 to the end-of-year reels.
The Mexican produced that in his clash with Joshua Van inside the Sphere. Cháirez found himself in all sorts of trouble midway through round two when he was badly hurt to the liver and the victim of an absolute onslaught of hooks and uppecuts.
As he turned his back against the cage, Mark Smith looked a second away from stepping in. What happened next defied any and all expectation, as “Puro Chicali” uncorked a spinning backfist to rock Van and turn the tables.
Unfortunately for Cháirez, that moment of success wasn’t enough to carry him to victory on the scorecards. But when it comes to the “fight like a Mexican” saying, he fulfilled that and then some to bring some momentum back to the Sphere show alongside an impressive Van.
Positive – Club & Sub
We completed the trifecta of snoozefest, barnburner, and finish in the opening three fights of the night at Noche UFC 306. And when it comes to the first stoppage inside the Sphere, it was certainly worth the brief wait.
Ketlen Souza continued the trend set by Cháirez and Van by delivering utter violence. Poor Yazmin Jauregui essentially fell to both a knockout and a submission, first being flattened after falling on the much worse side of an exchange of left hooks.
As the Mexican barely woke back up and was probably filled with confusion about the spherical building she found herself in, her Brazilian counterpart met her on the ground, locked in a rear-naked choke, and rendered her unconscious again.
As far as the first finish to take place inside the Sphere, Souza couldn’t have delivered much better.
Now, a brief note on the release.
Souza definitely held on for an extra second, and that is not good to see. We’ve certainly seen more egregious instances of athletes not releasing submissions, but that doesn’t make the Brazilian’s decision to keep choking an unconscious opponent for longer than required any less disappointing.
Positive – A Mexican Warrior
This is the second positive that focuses on a losing Mexican. While a number of results went against the nation on Saturday’s preliminary card, the likes of Cháirez and Irene Aldana did not go down without a fight.
This could easily be a negative purely because of what a rough break it was for Aldana to be cut so badly from an inadvertent clash of heads in round two of her collision with Norma Dumont.
When I say worst cut in UFC history…
Off the top of my head, it’s certainly up there. But the former title challenger was not deterred, continuing her immense forward pressure through punches coming back her way that no doubt turned he cut from a bad blemish to a gaping wound in the final frame. Aldana’s commitment to throwing the kitchen sink in pursuit of a finish even saw her using her shirt as a blood towel in-between charges forward.
Aldana may not have gotten the result she wanted, but you won’t see many displays of toughness like that. And for that to come after a Fight of the Year contender in 2023, the Mexican is on a bloody run of brutality.
Of course, this fight wouldn’t have been a positive overall without the input of Norma Dumont, who showed her talents fighting off the back foot to actually outbox a boxing specialist in Aldana.
Her performance was impressive, and provided that her weight issues are a thing of the past, the Brazilian is well and truly in title contention at 135 pounds.
Positive – THAT’S How You Open
Raul Rosas Jr. did not really get the memo on what was required to enter bonus contention at the Sphere — or how to open the card at such a special event. Ronaldo Rodriguez and Ode’ Osbourne did.
Saturday’s prelims were strong aside from the dud of a first bout, which was quick to kill the immediate momentum that existed thanks to the intrigue surrounding the Sphere. But when it came to the PPV opener, Rodriguez and Osbourne put on a flyweight firecracker (yes alliteration was taught in junior school, and no, I won’t abandon it as I near 26) that only added to the occasion after the opening two chapters of “For Mexico, For All Time.”
Rodriguez was almost left with egg on his face after his confident walkout and in-cage dancing were quickly followed by a vicious right hand by “The Jamaican Sensation” that appeared set to see the Mexican finished in one round.
Somehow, someway, Rodriguez survived. And more than that, he went about delivering offense of his own en route to taking rounds two and three for the victory on the judges’ scorecards.
Speaking of the scorecards…
Negative – Consistency, Where Art Thou?
I really do hate having to include judging in the negative column because I’d like to avoid re-enforcing people’s often warped view of the scoring criteria and what constitutes a ‘robbery’.
But this can’t be ignored.
Two judges scored the main card opener 29-27 for Rodriguez, granting him a 10-8 in round two. The idea that the Mexican did enough for that and Osbourne didn’t in the first stanza is ludicrous.
The culprits? No prizes for correctly guessing Adalaide Byrd, who evidently has the job security of a worker walking in on their boss cheating on his wife with his assistant to still be judging at the highest level. She joined Ron McCarthy in turning in a real puzzler.
It would have been nice to emerge from such an incredible fight without a judging controversy. But nice things are difficult to come by in MMA.
Positive – The Fourth FOTN Of The Night
Whether down to the magnitude of the event — Sphere debut, Mexican Independence Day celebration, and all that jazz — or simply the fighters put on the lineup by the UFC, the sheer number of matchups that delivered fireworks on Saturday night was obscene.
The battle to secure Fight of the Night honors was already three contenders deep when Daniel Zellhuber and Esteban Ribovics entered the Octagon. They stole it in emphatic fashion and have likely left themselves as the current leaders in the race for 2024’s Fight of the Year.
The star of the show was round three, which began with the Mexican dropping his Argentine foe with a brutal elbow, transitioned to Ribovics pursuing a finish after putting Zellhuber on wobbly legs, and ended with both men trading bombs to the horn.
The fight was utter insanity and, incredibly, once again marked an instance of a Mexican displaying immense toughness and resolve but ultimately falling short when it came to the decision.
Positive – Lopes Lands In The Top Five
First and foremost, is there a better duo than Bruce Buffer and the name Diego? Secondly, how good is the Diego he was introducing at Noche UFC 306?
Diego Lopes 30-26’d a former two-time title challenger and longtime top-five featherweight contender in Brian Ortega to ascend from the lower steps of the rankings to a strong position in the title picture. That’s a sentence I would not have expected to be writing 16 months ago when the Mexico-residing Brazilian stepped in on late notice to share the cage with the undefeated Movsar Evloev.
But since then, Lopes has continued to impress more and more with each outing. And after doing so with his game attitude against same-day opponent Dan Ige in late June, the up-and-comer let his incredible skills do the talking inside the Sphere, first by dropping “T-City” early and then by dominating the remainder of the contest.
Does Lopes beat champion Ilia Topuria or UFC 308 challenger Max Holloway? Anything can happen, but I don’t think so. But will he give us an entertaining title fight against either man? Absolutely.
Negative – Shutout
I can’t remember the last time a fight I found impossible to predict turned out to be completely one-sided. After two competitive fights in 2023, Alexa Grasso simply had nothing for Valentina Shevchenko at Noche UFC 306.
The champion may well have been fortunate to escape last year’s Mexican Independence Day celebration with the title still in her possession, but that fight was the furthest thing from the shutout “Bullet” pitched inside the Sphere.
The main negative here is Grasso’s performance, which peaked at some submission attempts that were never really close to putting Shevchenko in too much trouble. And when it came to altering the course of the fight, not much of use came out of the Mexican’s corner, who appeared resigned to simply urging the champ to strike as if she was choosing for the bout to hit the mat.
Shevchenko’s performance was smart and unwavering, and does not contribute to this negative. But after a thrilling main card up to that point — and the expectation of a highly competitive clash — the first women’s trilogy in UFC history was a complete disappointment.
Negative – Welcome To The Sugar Snoozer
What a horrendous way for such an enthralling show and largely great card to end.
After Shevchenko controlled Grasso en route to a lackluster five-round decision, fireworks were also absent in a bizarre main event that was similarly odd to its title predecessor but for different reasons.
First and foremost were some strange antics from Merab Dvalishvili, who spent the opening seconds screaming at Sean O’Malley’s corner, where Tim Welch was evidently up to his old tricks again. Referee Herb Dean warned him for “excessive coaching.” Does ‘attempting to trick the opposition fighter’ really fall into that bracket? Also, what could have come from said warning should it have been ignored? Are we talking a WWE-style banishment to the back for the coach?
Speaking of Herb…
What on Earth was going through his head toward the end? The veteran official was throwing around some misplaced “keep working” comments during grappling exchanges but it was the final seconds when he went utterly mad, urging the pair to “work” as Dvalishvili circled to protect his guaranteed title win. When did referees’ job description include ‘try to force athletes into a Max Holloway vs. Justin Gaethje ending’?
Dvalishvili deserves credit for an impressive display of dominance. Wow is he relentless, and wow is his cardio legendary. But when the main talking points from a pay-per-view main event don’t include the fight itself, it has to go into the negative column.
Positive – The Sphere
It would be remiss of me not to conclude this by commenting on what was, let’s be honest, the main show.
It’s important to note the sheer number of prominent fans and pundits online who decided the Sphere experiment was a failure within five minutes of the prelims. Not only had we been told to expect the big stuff during the main card, but did they really expect one of the card’s main drawing points to be revealed prior to the pay-per-view? For free?!
I have my fair share of criticism for the UFC, but anyone who gave their review of the Sphere’s use on Saturday night during the opening fights was simply always going to be negative about the experience whatever they witnessed.
Sure, things started off slowly, but the increasing spectacle built anticipation heading into the PPV main card, and then things well and truly picked up. While I had little doubt that things would be impressive in-person, I was skeptical about the extent to which the experience would translate to television.
How did it translate? Well, very well.
Even on a desktop screen, the 90-second films had the kind of trippy effect I imagine those in attendance felt (amplified, of course). And the ‘worlds’ that the arena transformed into for each fight were spectacular. The final film wasn’t the strongest and felt like a slightly anticlimactic end, but that by no means takes away from the overall show.
And a word on the ring girls, whose attire matched each chapter of the main card film and provided a fantastic aesthetic. All eyes were on the Sphere, but small details like the selection of ring girls and their elaborate clothing made this even feel even grander.
Now, if you showed me the event without any knowledge of the cost that White and co. have long discussed and told me what we saw was the result of $20 million investment, I’d be shocked. But I admit to being out of the loop when it comes to the price of technology like this, and MMA media doesn’t pay well enough for me to have any grasp of what would be worth $20 million.
The other point to highlight is the UFC CEO’s pre-event remarks, which honestly set the bar to an unattainable level. The event was unbelievable, and I was in awe of the visuals in a way I never have been before when watching a sporting event. In that regard, mission accomplished for the UFC.
But I can’t help feeling the overall consensus would have been stronger had White not spent months on a tour of superlatives that only widened the chance for some detractors to feel underwhelmed.
