Dana White exploring Las Vegas Sphere prior the Noche UFC // Credit: ufc.com
UFC CEO Dana White is used to taking on significant challenges and proving people wrong. RG tells the story of why the challenge he and his team have had to put on this coming weekend's Riyadh Season Noche UFC event at the Sphere in Las Vegas has been unlike anything he's experienced before.
Chatting with veteran MMA journalist John Morgan in Las Vegas, White lifted the lid on the sheer scale of what they're trying to accomplish at this weekend's special one-off event at the state-of-the-art venue, providing many challenges to White's team. But, as we enter fight week, the UFC boss is confident his team will pull off an unforgettable show.
"I don't get nerve wracked," he said.
"But, as we got closer to the event, and I hadn't seen anything inside the Sphere yet, which was, like, a couple weeks ago – we were in there at like, three o'clock in the morning – when they as soon as the thing hit the screen, I said, 'Yeah, we're good.'
"We are all dialed in and ready to go. Now it's about rehearsal, rehearsal, rehearsal. You know, as many times as we can rehearse this."
The event presents a number of major logistical and production-based challenges, with the unique setup of the Sphere meaning the UFC can't set up their usual setup, with a lighting rig suspended above the Octagon. It means that his team, led by Craig Borsari, has had to virtually start from scratch and devise, design and build a setup specifically for this event.
"The level of difficulty and the complication of this event is at a whole other level," said White.
"Figuring out the lighting was the first thing. That took four months. It took four months to figure out just the lighting. Then it took months to assemble a team to help us pull this off.
"I'll give you an example. Let's say we do the 'show open' (the opening video package that is played at the start of the event) on a regular Saturday night. That thing renders ... it takes a couple hours.
"It takes 12 days to render anything that changes (for the Sphere). We had to build a render farm inside the Sphere. We literally built our own render farm in there. The level of how complex this thing is, if I even laid a quarter of it out, people wouldn't even understand how hard and challenging this thing really was, and is."
The level of complexity, coupled with the fact that the UFC's production team have had to effectively reinvent the wheel in terms of their setup for the venue, has necessitated the UFC drafting additional expertise and manpower. And, as White explained, he's brought in the best of the best to make the show a success.
"We went after the A-Team of talent to be involved in this, and every one of them said, 'You're nuts! And we're in!'" he said.
"One of the guys that's working on the show has won 14 Emmys, you know? So to have a challenge like this at this point in their career, they love it. And I'm looking at the synergy between my team and all these people that are all major people in Hollywood, (it) has been fantastic. So it's exciting. We're excited for this. It's gonna be fun."
The show will aim to use the full power of the technology on offer at the Sphere, as UFC aims to tell the story of Mexican combat sports on a night White said he wants to be a "Love letter to Mexico". It involves not just the fights taking place in the Octagon, but a storytelling strand that will run through the entire event.
Running that significant additional element, plus the need for the UFC broadcast to make the viewing experience on television as close as possible to what those in attendance will be experiencing, means that the show will involve additional visual storytelling, and extra shooting units, all of which will be coordinated and weaved together into one live broadcast by Hollywood director Glenn Weiss.
"So, every night, every Saturday night, we put on an in-house live event, and we put on a television event that goes out to the world, two different types of shows with two different groups of people that run each one," White explained.
"That night (at the Sphere), we'll have two more trucks, so you will have the greatest director in Hollywood right now that does all the award shows – his name is Glenn Weiss. He'll be shooting both of those live and trying to make the people at home feel the experience at the Sphere. So all this stuff has to come together and be seamless. On September 14, it's going to be amazing.”
The event, which came about in part due to a dispute between White and MGM over the owners of the T-Mobile Arena allowing boxing promoter Al Haymon to host a Canelo Alvarez fight on the weekend of Mexican Independence Day while already being in a contract with the UFC, took White down a completely different path with the Sphere. The UFC boss also admitted that it has made him think more about how he can put on special shows for Mexican Independence Day weekend every year moving forward, with “Noche UFC” set to be an annual event.
“The other thing about this that I love is this made me look at Mexican Independence Day differently,” he explained.
White revealed that the event at the Sphere is already guaranteed to deliver the biggest gate in UFC history, and the show has had more pay-per-view pre-buys in the promotion's history.
And, while putting on a show of this magnitude at such a unique venue will be a source of great satisfaction and pride for the UFC boss, he admitted that he still plans to focus on giving the fans the best possible in-person experience at events, even if that means turning down the chance to host shows in huge stadiums.
Las Vegas' Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL's Las Vegas Raiders, has long been suggested as a potential venue for a UFC superfight, but despite the location, and the relatively predictable weather in Sin City, White admitted that he still isn't keen, with the UFC boss determined to ensure that people who go to watch his events go home happy afterward.
"I don't want to take the experience away from people. And we've done stadiums before. It's just not my favorite thing. I like arenas. I really like arenas," he explained.
"What I care about every Saturday, whether you stayed home and watched it on TV, or you came to the venue and watched it, is that everybody walks away on a Saturday night going, 'God, I'm glad I came to the fight, sir. This was worth coming to.' Or, you know, they don't walk out going, 'Well, that sucked. That wasn't a good experience.' That's, that's what I focus on, literally every week."
"(Running a show in a stadium is) not what I look for. I look for incredible experiences, unique experiences, and things that have never been done before – that what I'm into.
"I'm not like, 'Oh, I have to do Allegiant Stadium.' I don't have to do Allegiant Stadium. I want to give fans a great experience every time."
Simon is a sports journalist and MMA reporter with 25+ years' experience covering sports and 15+ years covering mixed martial arts as one of the UK's longest-tenured MMA journalists. He also has more than a decade of experience working in the betting and gaming industry.
He has provided coverage for a plethora of major sports outlets, including BBC Sport, USA Today, Daily Mirror and BT Sport, and has covered Olympic Games, World Cups, FA Cup Finals and UFC title fights during his career.
