LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Sphere is Las Vegas’ transformational newest masterpiece, and the venue stole the show Saturday with a record-setting night for the UFC.
Merab Dvalishvili tried to his part at UFC 306, putting on a convincing — though not aesthetically pleasing — performance in capturing the bantamweight championship with a unanimous decision over Sean O’Malley.
The judges scored it 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 in favor of Dvalishvili (18-4), a 33-year-old from the country of Georgia. He used a ground-and-pound attack to control most of the action against O’Malley (18-2).
“Now look at me,” Dvalishvili said. “I’m a UFC champion and I’m living my dream. I inspire so many people in my country and around the world.”
O’Malley, 29, who lives in Phoenix, was a slight -125 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook.
The mild upset occurred before an announced sellout crowd of 16,024, attracting a $22 million gate that UFC President Dana White said was the highest grossing in the organization’s history and for the nearly 1-year-old Sphere. White also said this event set the record for merchandise sales.
“Literally, the whole thing seamless,” White said. “It was perfect. We didn’t have a lot of time to rehearse, but the team absolutely nailed it.”
Valentina Shevchenko reclaimed the women’s flyweight championship with all three judges awarding her a 50-45 victory over Alexa Grasso in the co-main event.
This was the third consecutive meeting between the two after Grasso took Shevchenko’s belt in the first match. The second was a draw.
The third one wasn’t closer, with the 36-year-old Shevchenko (24-4-1) using a ground-and-pound strategy to win all three rounds over 31-year-old Grasso (16-4-1) on the judges’ cards.
“It’s so huge,” said Shevchenko, who is from Kyrgyzstan. “It like a dream come true fighting in the Sphere.”
Dvalishvili and Shevchenko danced together backstage afterward wearing their belts.
This show at the Sphere was unlike any show in the UFC’s history, taking full advantage of the 160,000-square-foot (14,864-square-meter) high-definition LED screen to create an outer-space type feel as the pay-per-view portion of the card was about to begin.
White called this card his “love letter to Mexico,” and mini stories of the neighboring country’s history and culture as part of a celebration of the country’s Independence Day weekend were told on the screen throughout the evening. One created the illusion the arena was moving as the video played out.
Seven Mexican fighters, including Grasso, populated the card, and chants from the crowd of “Mexico” broke out several times.
Aztec pyramids seeming to hover over one contest in the octagon changed from night to morning. Another fight took place with a Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) holiday scene that included dressed up male and female skeletons lighting up the screen. Other matches had similar scenes dominating the background.
The screen was used throughout to introduce a tell-of-the-tape of each fighter, and highlights were shown on the building’s exterior.
“Nobody will really understand how hard this was,” White said.
White has said this is a one-and-done given the overwhelming undertaking to put together the show as well as the roughly $20 million cost. To help pay for it, White secured a title sponsor for the first time for one of his PPV cards, making the official name Riyadh Season Noche UFC.
But White has waffled as the event approached, and it’s possible the UFC will have future cards at the Sphere, those the organization is contractually obligated to MGM Resorts, which includes T-Mobile Arena. An exception was made for this night.
White returned to his previous stance that this would be it at the Sphere, citing that deal with MGM.
T-Mobile had its own tribute to Mexican Independence Day three miles away with Canelo Alvarez winning by unanimous decision as the headline fighter.
UFC’s in-house production team crew worked with Antigravity Academy production led by founder and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Carlos López Estrada to put together this event.
Heavyweight champion Jon Jones, considered by many to be the greatest fighter in UFC history, will face Stipe Miocic in UFC 309 on Nov. 16 at New York’s Madison Square Garden. Jones has not fought since moving up from light heavyweight to claim the heavyweight crown with a first-round submission of Ciryl Gane on March 4, 2023.
Jones, who was in the crowd wearing a black cowboy hat, and Miocic were scheduled to fight last year, but a pectoral injury forced Jones to postpone.
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