The UFC made history for its 306th edition, as Dana White hosted the league’s first live sporting event at Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. White, who is the league’s president, has been saying for many months that he wanted to produce the greatest live sporting event at the Sphere. He blew our minds with the production of the event. 

One of the reasons why White wanted to host UFC 306 at Sphere was to celebrate Mexican Independence Day with many young and hungry Mexican fighters to showcase to the world. Before every fight on the main card, to celebrate Mexican culture and its rich history, Sphere displayed six mini-movies that left the crowd in shock. 

In the main event, Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (18-4) captured the UFC bantamweight title as he dethroned former champion “Suga” Sean O’Malley (18-2) by unanimous decision (46-49, 47-48, 47-48). Throughout the contest, Dvalishvili constantly pressured O’Malley. Dvalishvili landed six out of 10 takedowns accumulating to 10:03 of control. O’Malley could never really find that one shot to change the fight. With this win by Dvalishvili, he joins Marlon “Chito” Vera as the only man to defeat the former champion. Dvalishvili is now set to face Umar Nurmagomedov, which will be the most technical championship fight in UFC history. 

In the co-main event, Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko (24-4-1) ended her rivalry with former UFC women’s flyweight champion Alexa Grasso (16-4-1) by reclaiming the women’s flyweight championship in a trilogy bout by unanimous decision (45-50, 45-50, 45-50). Shevchenko went eight for 12 on takedowns with 16:04 of control. In addition, Shevchenko landed 45 significant strikes compared to Grasso’s 18. This victory by Shevchenko resets the division, allowing her to face new challengers and compete against great fighters like Manon “The Beast” Fiorot and Maycee “The Future” Barber. 

The featured bout of the night was the rebooking of Brian “T-City” Ortega (16-4) and Diego Lopes (26-6) in the UFC featherweight division. Lopes had Oretga badly hurt with a vicious combo that sent Ortega to the canvas but unfortunately couldn’t produce a finish. After that, Lopes would coast to an impressive unanimous decision victory (30-26, 30-27, 30-27) over the former UFC featherweight title challenger. Lopes will break into the top five in the UFC featherweight division and will be drawing a No. 1 contender contest in his next fight.  

Another fight to highlight was the lightweight bout between Esteban “El Gringo” Ribovics (14-1) and Daniel “Golden Boy” Zellhuber (15-2). Ribovics edged Zellhuber by a split decision (28-29, 29-28, 28-29). In the third round, both men were rocked by hard shots, but the pain was eased when they were both awarded a $50,000 fight of the night bonus. 

UFC 306 will always be remembered, as the event highlighted when sports and entertainment collide at the highest level. As combat sports fans and enthusiasts, Sphere will forever be known as the place that changed how we watch sports.

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