“I want to pull off something that no one is ever going to pull off again” – Dana White on hosting UFC event at Las Vegas Sphere
Last year when the Las Vegas Sphere opened, UFC CEO Dana White started talking about hosting a fight card at the next-generation entertainment medium that is redefining the future of live entertainment.
On September 14, White and the UFC will become the first mixed martial arts promotion to hold an event at the venue with UFC 306 – a Noche UFC event celebrating Mexican Independence Day.
In an interview with ESPN, White said: “This year, going into Mexican Independence Day, I am going to pull off the greatest live sporting event done in the Sphere. If you’re Mexican, you have to be at this event or to watch this event.”
The Sphere allows artists, creators, and technologists to create extraordinary experiences that take storytelling to a new level and transport audiences to places both real and imagined. The venue is powered by cutting-edge technologies that ignite the senses and enable audiences to share experiences at a never-before-seen scale.
The Sphere can hold more than 18,000 people and has a 16K, 15,000 sq meter LED interior screen. Last year’s Noche UFC event was held at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with 18,766 guests attending and a $2.26m paid gate.
The UFC frontman continued to talk about the event his team is organizing.
“It’s incredibly challenging,” White told ESPN. “People ask why would you do this? Because nobody has and most people think it can’t be done.
“The night I started talking about doing the Sphere, people were saying this won’t work.
“There are 15 million reasons why it won’t work there. And I’m going to show everyone in September why it will work there.”
“I want to pull off something that no one is ever going to pull off again,” he said.
