UFC CEO Dana White explains why the upcoming Sphere event will be a one and done event and teases more about the promotion's plans.
The UFC continues to plan its much anticipated (and much hyped) debut at Sphere as if it won’t happen again. That’s because according to Dana White, it won’t.
UFC 306 is set to take place Sept. 14 at Sphere in Las Vegas and will be the promotion’s second-annual Noche UFC event to honor Mexican Independence Day. But beyond that, the prospect of a second event there are unlikely – because there will be no matching the first.
“I’m telling you guys right now, we literally just went through the storyboards two days ago on this thing,” White told reporters at a UFC on ESPN 56 post-event news conference Saturday in St. Louis. “This is going to be the sickest live event in combat sports that anybody has ever seen.”
“It will never be done again. This will be a one and done, just because I wanted to do it. Everybody, when I said I wanted to do this, said, ‘How? How are you going to do a fight in there? It’s too hard. It’s too this. It’s too that.’ That’s the kind of stuff I love. We’ve already spent a sh*tload of money on this thing. Nobody will ever be able to pull this off again because nobody would spend the money to do it. Nobody is going to spend the money to do what I’m doing over there right now.”
Since his declaration the UFC would head there, White promised the event will be “the greatest live combat sports show anybody has ever seen” and also acknowledged the preparation is a “massive challenge.”
Sphere has hosted multiple music artist residencies including U2 and Adele, but has yet to host a combat sports event. As of now, the UFC will be the first.
“This is going to be a f*cking masterpiece, man,” White said. “I’m telling you right now and this is a fact, this will never be done again. You know what’s going to happen when I do this event at the Sphere? Every other event that’s going to go in there is going to go, ‘Motherf*cker. What do we do now? How do we even come close to competing with this?’ We are going to f*cking blow the doors off anything that ever goes into that arena again. I f*cking guarantee it.”
Sphere opened in September 2023 after five years of construction that cost $2.3 billion. It has a capacity of 18,600, or around 20,000 if floor seats are counted. The interior contains the world’s largest LED screen at 160,000 square feet.
