Sphere Event Adds Unforgettable New X Factor to UFC’s Future

By
Gabriel Gonzalez
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UFC CEO Dana White says the Sphere is a one and done, but the unforgettable experience means it may have to be on the table forever.

Saturday’s UFC 306 event was lauded by industry leader Dana White as a one-time only event that would be the most innovative sports broadcast ever done.  Leading up to the card, White shared lofty goals in the media about his ambition for the show to win every major on-screen award from an Oscar, Emmy, to even a Grammy.  He also said that the event would have the type of impact that other sports would consider following suit.

Now on the other side of UFC 306 – or more precisely: Riyadh Season Presents Noche UFC – it is clear that the marriage of the technological capabilities of the Las Vegas Sphere with the innovation of the Ultimate Fighting Championship made for the perfect storm of an event.  For one night, at least.

The relentless media blitz for months now promised a UFC event unlike any other.  The promotion delivered on that front with their six-part film demonstrating the abilities of the Sphere similar to a talented contender having their way with an outmatched opponent.  To say that the experience inside the venue looked amazing would be an understatement.  The visual experience of the pay-per-view main card portion of the event treated fans to a literally unbelievable sight.  Genuinely, one can be told a million times that the stone ceiling being displayed above them is nothing more than a picture on an LED screen.  But like a dream, the attention to detail is so great that when one sees it with their own eyes the mind can be tricked into believing that what it sees is as real as the rest of the environment around them.

That is what the fans were treated to on Saturday night inside the venue, and that is not to speak on the litany of other amenities such as the use of the haptic seats or the unveiling of new attractions inside the atrium.  With fans able to greet, face-off, and even shadow box with virtual projections of the stars of Noche UFC, to merely say that the promotion pulled out all the stops would be unfair to the sheer amount of man-power involved to make it all a reality.

How Noche UFC translated to the home viewer is quite subjective.  Decorated director James Cameron said regarding Avatar: The Way of Water that while he understood that his film would eventually make its way to a streaming service that could be accessed via a mobile device, watching it on a phone meant you were “only watching it halfway” compared to seeing it in a movie theater where you are not multitasking.

That is likely what you needed to be aware of if you were not one of those with a seat in Las Vegas.  Depending on the size of your television or viewing conditions at home, the sheer magnitude of what was being presented may not have always held your attention as it did for those in-person who were being shown something larger than life.  But the UFC did as great a job as any could attempt to do in order to present what was shown in arena on the broadcast.

If the absence of haptic seats did not keep the viewer at home riveted during the film, then the fights on Saturday night certainly made up the difference.  In what ended up being a well-paced night of fights, with only ten matches compared to your typical thirteen to fifteen, the first eight bouts provided plenty of fireworks and back-and-forth action that made for a highly entertaining block of television.

It’s only natural to ask how things can go back to “normal” after such a break from the norm.  For one, White has pointed out that the UFC remains under contract with MGM that will keep them out of the Sphere and at the T-Mobile Arena for the foreseeable future in Las Vegas.  Secondly, there remains a special magic to be had in the eruption of a full arena or stadium when the sport delivers an electrifying finish.  While the audience at the Sphere did their best, they couldn’t compete with the decibels heard back in April when Max Holloway nearly closed the show at UFC 300 almost two hours early or the other moments in packed venues that saw thousands upon thousands brought to their feet.

So what comes next?  On a tangible level, there are more activities for fans to interact with at a time when the brand continues to grow and borrow from their partners under the TKO banner: WWE.  From a broadcast perspective, White has said several of the cameras used during the Sphere event could be added to the UFC’s usual lineup.

But similar to venturing into outdoor stadiums or the introduction of the BMF belt, a new element is now on the table and fans regard it as part of the game.  Everyone knows there’s now a special kind of event that can be put on for the right circumstances.  That now means that for every special fight, every key milestone, fans will be right to wonder if the perfect storm is on the horizon to be given the special experience that was granted on Saturday.

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