Dana White has never been more enthralled at a fight venue than he was at the UFC 306 Sphere.
It all started when White attended a U2 concert at the Sphere with Tom Brady in October 2023. The UFC CEO quickly fell in love with the idea of hosting a sporting event at the venue, which ultimately led to UFC 306 being held at the venue on Saturday.
Sean O’Malley, one of the active fighter’s biggest stars, will put his bantamweight title on the line against Merab Dvalishvili in the main event, while women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso will defend her title against Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event of a card that pays tribute to Mexican Independence Day. But White stresses that the real star of UFC 306 is the venue. White was so impressed with the Sphere that he plans to return for the Eagles’ concert on September 27.
According to White, UFC 306 will feature fights as chapters in a film that will run throughout the film. But White is uncertain about whether his ambitious project will be executed flawlessly. And with the Sphere project already confirmed as a one-off, there will be no opportunity to correct any mistakes that may be made in the future. UFC 306: O’Malley vs. Dvalishvili, Saturday at 10pm ET on ESPN+. Order now!
“I don’t know if this is going to work out… All I know is that I saw U2 at the Sphere that night and was blown away by the experience,” White recently told Grind City Media. “All I said was, the Sphere is the star of the show… I’m going to see the Eagles. [concert]After our event is over, I’m going to see the Eagles on September 27th, where I can sit and listen to U2’s best songs while watching the screen and occasionally catching glimpses of U2.
“So I said, it would be fun to do a sporting event here. We’re basically doing a movie, so there will be a movie playing that night. And then in between the movies, we call them movie chapters, there will be fights in there. And you’ll get to see our thought process and how we laid it out and how we thought this would work. But at the end of the night, you’ll find out if it works or not.”
It’ll be a very different experience for the UFC 306 crowd, but White wants fans watching at home to feel a part of it, too. To cater to the needs of both groups, White has hired renowned live event director Glenn Weiss, a 14-time Emmy Award winner.
“Every Saturday night, we have an in-house live event and a globally broadcast television event,” White said. “We have two different types of shows, run by two different groups. We’ll have two extra trucks that night, which means we’ll have the biggest director in Hollywood working on all the awards shows. [his] “This is Glenn Weiss, who will be filming both events live to bring the Sphere experience to people at home. So it all needs to come together seamlessly on September 14th.”
