Inside UFC’s futuristic £15m Las Vegas Sphere with never-before-seen backdrops, holograms and all-new octagon girls
THE UFC'S record-breaking event at the Las Vegas Sphere will go down as a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Dana White left no expense spared as he splashed out £15MILLION to host UFC 306 on Mexican Independence weekend in a never-before-seen way.
The night started with a short film honouring Mexican fight culture.
Every bout began with a chapter extract from an animated movie produced by the UFC celebrating Mexico.
Fights had a unique LED backdrop - spanning 250ft tall and 400ft wide - with huge screens playing the action above the cage.
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A dazzling Tale of The Tape lit up the screens with fighters facing off in holograms.
The Sphere is 366ft tall and 516ft wide with the full capacity 16,024 crowd selling out the place.
Machines also created additional effects as part of the 4D experience with confetti also reigning down onto fans' seats.
Several famous faces were in attendance, including billionaire Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, rapper Chris Brown and celeb chef Gordon Ramsay.
MY SPHERE EXPERIENCE
By Jack Figg: WHEN I scanned my ticket to get into UFC 306 inside the £1.7billion Las Vegas Sphere - my expectations were high.
Within 30 minutes, they were not only met but exceeded.
The pay-per-view card kicked off with an animated movie celebrating Mexico's fighting culture on the 250ft tall and 400ft wide LED screen.
Short movies played before every bout before a unique backdrop was displayed behind the UFC octagon as the action kicked off in the cage.
In an amazing cinematic touch, holograms of the two fighters lit up the screen before every fight.
Now, the action in the cage admittedly did not live up to the stunning build-up to each bout.
But I was so blown away by my surroundings that it really didn't matter.
UFC boss Dana White insists, due to his contract with MGM, that his Vegas events must largely remain at the T-Mobile Arena.
But after a record £16.6m was made in ticket sales alone, this surely can't be a one-and-done.
Although if it is, I'm proud to say I was there in what could be a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.
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UFC 306 - also nicknamed Noche - welcomed eight new octagon girls all of Mexican descent.
Hannah Esparaza, Karla Espiritu, Valeria Galvan, Ayled Corenov, Daniela Houghton, and Ariadna Vidal, Mariel Elisa and Daniela Lunaleon lit up the cage.
They switched up outfits throughout fight night to match the Mexican themed backdrop, including all golden costumes.
In the main-event, American Sean O'Malley, 19, lost his UFC bantamweight belt to Georgian Merab Dvalishvili, 33.
Valentina Shevchenko, 36, beat Mexico's Alexa Grasso, 31, in the night's chief support with the top two fights failing to live up the billing.
But UFC head honcho White refused to be discouraged.
He said: "You can control how much you spend on the production of an event, but you can't control the fights."
White spent more on production at the Sphere than any UFC event in history - but it was a gamble that paid off.
UFC 306 broke ticket sales records with £16.6m amassed - shattering the £12.8m record set by Conor McGregor in 2016.
But it could be the first and only UFC event at the Sphere due to an existing deal with the T-Mobile Arena just three miles down the road.
Asked whether a return was on the cards, White said: “No. I’m under contract with MGM."
Despite White's stance, commentator Joe Rogan said: “I feel like every UFC should be here. I am just blown away by the visuals.”
If it is to be a one-of-a-kind event, White really did pull out all the stops. He said: "Literally, the whole thing seamless.
"It was perfect. We didn’t have a lot of time to rehearse, but the team absolutely nailed it.
"I told you guys leading up to this, the way it played out, tonight was meant to happen.
"We did it, we killed it! I'm literally getting blown up by everybody about this event.
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"The other thing we accomplished was it translated well on the television too.
"I felt like it was a different experience then they get on a normal Saturday night."