Dana White says “all the bells and whistles are in place” for UFC 306 aka Noche UFC at Sphere in Las Vegas on September 14. In addition to the preview BTS photos released earlier this week, UFC CEO shared insight on what to expect at the highly anticipated event.
“I’m pretty cool right now. Everything’s there, White said at the DWCS Season 8: Week 5 post-fight press conference. “All the bells and whistles are in place. Now it’s just about rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal leading up to this event.”
“Normally when you change something in your production, you would rehearse it, you do it that night and then you figure out ‘ah we didn’t like this, we like that’, and you start to make tweaks. There will be no tweaking . This is the way this is going to go that night, and it is what it is. I’m very comfortable and confident going into this event.”
When asked about the “biggest challenge” the UFC faced putting the show together, Dana White said “lighting”.
“There’s no lighting grid, so this will be the first event ever in the history of the company, probably in the history of combat sports I would imagine, where there isn’t a lighting grid hanging over the Octagon. So you have lights, cameras, microphones, different audio, all up in that trussing up there, and that’s all gone. So, that was the big first challenge.”
Dana White: The fight will live inside this world
Talking about the difference for fans at the Sphere and those watching UFC 306 on their screens, Dana White shared details on the event broadcast.
“So normally every Saturday we have two trucks. There is a in-house live event that is different than the event that is on television that beams out to the whole world. There will be two more trucks added to this show,” White said.
“And you will have Glenn Weiss, [he] is one of the probably the greatest director in Hollywood right now. He does all the award shows. He’s done them all, and when we called him and asked him to be a part of this, he said ‘you guys are crazy, I’m in’. He loves the challenge of this thing. So he will be shooting both of those things at the same time to try to give you the feel that you are inside the Sphere. Whether you’re watching it at home in a bar wherever.”
During Noche UFC, Sphere is also set to host the premiere of the film “For Mexico, For All Time”. Plus, $25K is up for grabs for someone who finds all Easter eggs.
“There is movie, there is chapters. So each chapter starts before the next fight,” White said. “So there’ll be a show open. Then the first movie will run and it will end at the end of the fight. And then, we call them ‘worlds’, and the fight will live inside this world. And the world will evolve while the fights are going on. But it’ll be very subtle. Clouds will move, fires will burn, birds will fly or whatever the hell is going on in that world at that time. And it will slowly evolve during the fight.”
“There are also going to be Easter eggs in each one of these films and we’re working it out with legal right now. But what I want to do [is] if somebody can find all the Easter eggs, they’ll give you $25,000. They [Easter eggs] are related to the show.
“This [movies] is during the main card. So, throughout the night the show will progress.”
UFC 306 fight card comprises 10 bouts with two titles contested in the headliner of the show. In the main event, Sean O’Malley of Helena, Montana defends his bantamweight title against No. 1-ranked contender Merab Dvalishvili of Georgia. In the co-main event, Alexa Grasso of Mexico defends her flyweight title in the trilogy fight against former champion Valentina Shevchenko of Kyrgyzstan.