Noche UFC earned our booking, now it deserves our praise

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Something strange happened in the run-up to Noche UFC, Mexico’s second annual celebration of Independence Day. For the first time since I got into MMA during the McGregor era and fell in love with the sport during the pandemic, I skipped all my UFC fight week traditions. I didn’t watch a single episode SetI didn’t watch the press conference on Thursday or the weigh-in on Friday. And I certainly didn’t have my usual “just one more dream” nerves heading into Saturday. It’s clear to me now that my lack of enthusiasm was a result of uncertainty, which leads to reserve, not curiosity.

Almost everything on Saturday night’s card had me and other fans scratching our heads, starting with its amalgamation of a name: UFC 306: Riyadh Season Noche UFC. And then there was the promotion’s star. No, not the homegrown, hype-machine-produced Sean O’Malley, or even Mexico’s Alex Grasso, but rather The Sphere (or simply “The Sphere,” as it was referred to throughout the broadcast). The Mexican-inspired Fight Night, which had somehow become a numbered pay-per-view presented by a series of festivals in Saudi Arabia, boasting an arena as its main attraction, left me with questions that the sights and sounds of a typical fight week couldn’t answer. Instead, those questions were answered by the standard brilliance of the most production-oriented combat sports promotion this side of WWE.

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When it was first reported, the cheapest seat in the house would cost more than $2,000, I wondered if the more passionate Mexican and Mexican-American fight fans wouldn’t have enough money to settle for the regular fighters with high salaries and corporate credit cards. Those concerns were put to rest when I heard the crowd cheer Raúl Rosas Jr. as he walked to the octagon before the first elimination of the night. I did my best Irish accent and asked Who the hell is this guy? when I found out that four people I had never heard of were opening the main card. And lo and behold, they were the two most entertaining fights of the night, and Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber got fight of the night bonuses that could have just as easily gone to Ronaldo Rodriguez and Ode’ Osbourne. And, as Sean O’Malley said he had a problem with himself At one point I noticed with interest that soon turned to ambivalence that the venue was being promoted more than the then bantamweight champion at the top of the bill. I don’t know about him, but I understood why by the end of the night, as the suspense surrounding what a sporting event at The Sphere might look like paid off more than the one-sided thrashing most educated fans correctly predicted he would receive in the main event.

But above all, the main question I had before last night was why the first and potentially only UFC show at The Sphere need be on Mexican Independence Day? As Noche UFC approached, I thought that perhaps an event headlined by Conor McGregor or Jon Jones would be a bigger pop culture spectacle, International Fight Week would lead to less complicated branding, and UFC 300, which fans and pundits alike made a mistake of underestimatingwould allow for a deeper card. Once again, the event itself convinced me of its merits in a way that no other moment in Set or a confrontation at a press conference might have prepared me.

No other alternative I had in mind, a more fitting Sphere card, would have produced the breathtaking story of Noche UFC. Six interludes produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker Carlos López Estrada, Antigravity Academy, made excellent operate of The Sphere’s capabilities, transporting viewers through Mexican history with images that were awe-inspiring even on a television screen. Ancient civilizations, heroic freedom fighters, spiritual traditions, iconic combat athletes, and the virtues of Mexican culture were honored with Lucasian airy and magic. Eight first- and second-generation Mexicana Octagon girls paraded between rounds in stunning costumes inspired by their shared heritage.

Despite the main event, the fights themselves matched the spectacle of the evening in a way that only high-level MMA drama can, especially when staged to honor the fighting spirit of a culture. Minutes after a brief film told the story of the indigenous warriors, the first people to fight for the land now known as Mexico, Mexican flyweight Ronaldo Rodriguez escaped two near-death submissions to hold out for a unanimous decision over Ode’ Osbourne. Immediately afterward, Mexico City native Daniel Zellhuber battled Argentine Esteban Ribovics at a furious pace Street fighter pressing buttons, losing on the cards, but gaining fans like me who were watching him fight for the first time. And despite a impoverished performance by former women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso, I was on the edge of my seat, almost once per round, trying to get Valentina Shevchenko to tap out.

Much like the 300 events that preceded them, UFC 306 has images that are forever etched in my memory; thrilling moments that I would have never predicted based on the names on the card and the hype that preceded it.

I don’t know if Noche UFC turned out to be “the greatest sporting event of all time,” as UFC CEO Dana White said promised in July. During his post-fight press availability, White admitted that it would be up to the audience to decide whether the evening lived up to those expectations. I’m generally a little allergic to making such grandiose statements. But I will admit that Noche UFC was the most impressively produced televised sporting event I’ve ever seen—better than any Super Bowl, NBA Finals, or WrestleMania I’ve ever watched.

It was a spectacle I couldn’t quite convince myself to expect, but one I’ll never forget. If you’re still with me, scroll or click through the photos below to see what made the night so memorable.

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