LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas' transformative new showpiece, “The Sphere,” took center stage at UFC 306 on Saturday night, where Merab Dvalishvili put in an unforgettable performance to defeat Sean O'Malley by unanimous decision to capture the bantamweight championship.
The judges scored the victory 49-46, 48-47 and 48-47 in favor of Dvalishvili (18-4), the 33-year-old from Georgia, who controlled much of the bout with his ground-and-pound attacks against O'Malley (18-2).
O'Malley, 29, of Phoenix, was a slight -125 favorite at BetMGM Sportsbook.
Valentina Shevchenko defeated Alexa Grasso 50-45 in the co-main event to regain the women's flyweight championship with the thumbs up of all three judges.
It was the third meeting between the two since Grasso took Shevchenko's belt in the first bout, the second time ending in a draw.
The third bout wasn’t a close one either, with the 36-year-old Shevchenko (24-4-1) utilizing a ground-and-pound strategy to win all three rounds over the 31-year-old Grasso (16-4-1), who was on the judges’ cards.
“It's huge,” said Shevchenko, a native of Kyrgyzstan. “It's a dream come true to compete in the stadium.”
The show at the Sphere was unlike any in UFC history, taking full advantage of the 160,000 square feet of high-definition LED screens, creating a space-like atmosphere as the pay-per-view portion of the card was about to get underway.
UFC president Dana White called the card a “love letter to Mexico,” and throughout the night, screens told mini-stories about the neighboring country's history and culture as part of neighboring country's Independence Day weekend celebrations, some of which created the illusion of the arena moving as videos were played.
The card featured seven Mexican fighters, including Grasso, which elicited numerous chants of “Mexico” from the crowd.
In one octagon match, an Aztec pyramid turned from night to morning and appeared to hover above the bout. In another match, costumed male and female skeletons lit up the screen in a scene from the Day of the Dead holiday. Similar scenes dominated the backgrounds in other matches.
Screens showed each fighter's match, and highlights were projected on the exterior of the building.
White said that given the amount of work that went into organizing the show and the estimated $20 million it cost, it's a one-off.
To help cover the costs, White has secured a title sponsor for one of his first PPV cards, officially titled “Riyadh Season Noche UFC.”
But White has softened his stance as the event approaches, and it's possible UFC could hold future cards at the Sphere — something it's required to do under its contract with MGM Resorts, which also includes T-Mobile Arena — though an exception was made for the night and it likely will continue to happen in the future.
Three miles away, T-Mobile hosted a Mexican Independence Day celebration bout, headlined by Canelo Alvarez, who won by unanimous decision.
UFC's in-house production crew worked with the AntiGravity Academy production team, led by founder and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Carlos Lopez Estrada, to produce the event.
Jon Jones returns to the Octagon
Heavyweight champion Jon Jones, considered by many to be the greatest fighter in UFC history, will face Stipe Miocic on November 16th at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Jones has not fought since March 4, 2023, when he moved up from light heavyweight to defeat Ciril Gane by first-round submission to win the heavyweight title.
Jones, who was wearing a black cowboy hat in the stands, and Miocic were scheduled to fight last year but the bout had to be postponed due to Jones' pectoral muscle injury.
