UFC Noche at the iconic Las Vegas Sphere was much more than just a pay-per-view event. It was Dana White‘s way of celebrating Mexican Independence Day. The $20 million+ Sphere event was a ‘Love letter to Mexico’ and attracted thousands of fight fans. This also included celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay, who hadn’t expected such an incredible experience.
Dana White got the idea for the Sphere event after he visited a U2 concert with NFL legend Tom Brady. Since then, White made it his goal to host the biggest combat sports experience for fight fans. The Noche UFC was a massive hit that smashed all the expectations of fight fans. Gordon Ramsay was there to watch the fights and couldn’t believe what he experienced.
Last night at @ufc was unreal. Congrats to @danawhite and the entire UFC team on such an epic presentation Do we need a food competition next at @spherevegas?
Gordon Ramsay via his Instagram account
Other than Ramsay, the event attracted a variety of celebrities, Ryan Garcia, Chris Brown, and Andrew Schulz etc being a few of them. Multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos was also spotted in the crowd ahead of the upcoming UFC broadcasting deal. The Sphere event provided spectacular visuals with the help of 16K LED screens. The immersive audio and top-notch animation gave a surreal experience.
UFC Noche delivered a vibrant experience with Mexican colors, traditional attire, mariachi music, themed lighting, and fan participation. It was a marriage between the Sphere’s technology capabilities and the high-energy UFC action. UFC did a great job with the movie which celebrated Mexican history like no other. However, there was indeed a flip side to all this.
The duality of Dana White’s $20 million+ Sphere event
UFC Noche was largely a success, with Dana White revealing that it was the biggest gate in the history of UFC. It was also the highest-grossing event at the Las Vegas Sphere and broke the UFC’s all-time merchandise sales record. In addition, two new champions were crowned after the event.
UFC Noche at the Las Vegas Sphere (via X)Valentina Shevchenko reclaimed the women’s flyweight title, defeating Alexa Grasso by unanimous decision. In the main event, Merab Dvalishvili defeated the popular Sean O’Malley to win the bantamweight championship.
However, many fans complained that these fights were underwhelming and overall affected the experience of UFC Noche. MMA analyst Luke Thomas publicly shared his disappointment in the title fights, especially the Grasso vs. Shevchenko fight.
Co-main event was more disappointing. Grasso’s third crack at Shevchenko and a chance to address the wrestling-centric approach Shevchenko took in the second.
And she got WORSE, not better. Shocking takedown defense. Shevchenko didn’t open up much and Grasso couldn’t make her.
— Luke Thomas🏋️♀️ (@lthomasnews) September 15, 2024
Dana White himself touched upon this matter and said that the championship fights were boring. He even joked about potentially losing viewers who saw the last two fights in the card. The internet debate about UFC Noche has certainly raised fans’ expectations for more thematic pay-per-view events.
