The trend of epic UFC events continues in the summer of 2024. Only months after UFC 300 provided fans with one of the most stacked fight cards and biggest MMA pay-per-views ever, Dana White is coming back with another banger. UFC 306, also called “Riyadh Season Noche,” is set up to be one of the biggest live sporting events ever, not just in UFC/combat sports history. In this article, we are going to detail everything you need to know about the next big UFC event.
When and where is UFC 306?
UFC 306, headlined by arguably the biggest superstar in the sport (Sean O'Malley), will be taking place in the Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada. The UFC has reportedly spent over $16 million to make the event that will combine sports and entertainment into one of the greatest sporting events in history.
The Sphere, which opened less than a year ago in September of 2023, is an entertainment arena shaped literally as a sphere. The venue seats 18,600, and it has fully immersive video and audio capabilities. Both the entire interior and exterior are covered in an LED screen, and during UFC 306, this screen will be telling the story and history of combat in Mexico.
This is the second edition of Noche UFC, which celebrates Mexican Independence Day. Mexico is known for its immense history in the world of fighting, a wide variety of eye-popping colors and patterns, and a unique cultural impact on the rest of the world, and the show put on in the Sphere will highlight all of this.
That means UFC 306 is somewhat of a show within a show, as there will, of course, also be fights going on. Fight day is on Saturday, Sept. 14, with the early prelims kicking things off at 7:30 p.m. ET. Action for the prelims will start at 8 p.m. ET, and main card will be at 10 p.m. ET. UFC 306 is expected to shatter gate records, with reports suggesting that the event will bring in close to $30 million in revenue at the gate. It will be the first sporting event ever at the Sphere.
How to watch UFC 306
UFC 306 is a must-watch. The main card is available exclusively through a pay-per-view purchase via ESPN+. Additionally, the early prelims will be on UFC Fight Pass, and the prelims will be on ESPNEWS. The early prelims and prelims will both be on ESPN+.
Although the fights are celebrating Mexican fighters, the card is in the United States of America, meaning Joe Rogan will join the broadcast team. He will provide analysis with Daniel Cormier, while Jon Anik calls the play-by-play. Megan Olivi will be the reporter during the fights, and Din Thomas will work as a sideline coach/analyst.
Date: Saturday, Sept. 14 | Time: 10 p.m. ET (main card)
Location: The Sphere — Las Vegas, Nevada
How to watch: ESPN+ PPV
Odds: O'Malley -122, Dvalishvili -104
UFC 306 fight card
Main card:
Bantamweight: Sean O'Malley (C) vs. Merab Dvalishvili, title bout (main event)
Women's flyweight: Alexa Grasso (C) vs. Valentina Shevchenko, title bout
Featherweight: Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes
Lightweight: Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Ribovics
Flyweight: Ronaldo Rodriguez vs. Ode Osbourne
Prelims:
Women's bantamweight: Irene Aldana vs. Norma Dumont
Lightweight: Manuel Torres vs. Ignacio Bahamondes
Women's strawweight: Yazmin Jauregui vs. Ketlen Souza
Flyweight: Edgar Chairez vs. Joshua Van
Early prelims:
Bantamweight: Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Aoriqileng
Main event
Because UFC Noche is celebrating Mexican Independence Day, every fight on the card except for two has at least one athlete fighting out of Mexico. One of those two fights even has an American fighter (Brian Ortega) who has Mexican citizenship. That leaves the main event as the only fight without any Mexican connections, but that is just okay, as Sean O'Malley is that big of a deal.
O'Malley is quickly proving that the hype he generated and has maintained since the Dana White Contender Series is real. He beat Aljamain Sterling for the Bantamweight Championship back at UFC 292, and he has since defended his title at UFC 299 against Chito Vera.
The win against Vera avenged his only career loss, giving him an 18-1 record overall. Now, he is on a quest to become the best bantamweight ever. That is a feat that won't be impossible to achieve, either. While bantamweight is one of the better divisions in the UFC right now, it doesn't have a clear-cut GOAT like other divisions such as light heavyweight (Jon Jones), flyweight (Demetrious Johnson), welterweight (Georges St-Pierre), or lightweight (Khabib Nurmagomedov) have.
The UFC 306 battle against Merab Dvalishvili could be the one fight that prevents O'Malley from reaching greatest of all-time status, though. Dvalishvili is 17-4, but he has run through anyone in his path since some early struggles in the UFC. He has now won 10 straight fights, all of which came in dominant fashion.
The fighter nicknamed The Machine has either finished his opponents or won a unanimous decision in every fight during that streak. He has the best gas tank in the UFC and elite wrestling to boot. So far, Dvalishvili has taken down whoever he wants whenever he wants to, and that included his last opponent, former double champion Henry Cejudo.
O'Malley has impressed defending takedowns throughout his career, though, which is impressive considering he is predominantly a stand-up fighter. O'Malley has unmatched precision and power with his hands for a bantamweight, making him one of the best strikers in the entire UFC. That is even more so the case because he can finish opponents with a variety of kicks and knees, too. His knee to the face of Vera at UFC 299, although it didn't finish his opponent, was one of the standout moves in MMA this year.
Dvalishvili and Sterling are friends and training partners. Dvalishvili will look to avenge his friend and hault O'Malley's path to legend status in this fight, but Suga Sean has proven that he can best even the greatest of wrestlers. Regardless, this is one of the biggest fights of the year. It is hard to predict any fight in the UFC because one punch or submission move can end it all in a matter of seconds, but this fight is next to impossible to predict.
Co-main event
The O'Malley vs. Dvalishvili bout won't be the only one for a championship belt at UFC 306. Valentina Shevchenko will also fight for the title against Alexa Grasso. This is the third straight fight between the two. Shevchenko won eight straight championship fights before she took on Grasso at UFC 285.
She was given a chance to recapture the belt at the Fight Night on Sept. 16, 2023 (which was the first UFC Noche event), but the match didn't end how fans wanted. A split decision resulted in a draw and left the two without a conclusion to their rivalry. The two have since coached against each other in the most recent edition of The Ultimate Fighter.
Grasso coached a winner and two runner ups (Mairon Santos, Kaan Ofli, and Robert Valentin), while Shevchenko coached one winner (Ryan Loder). As is usually the case with The Ultimate Fighter coaches, the two are now scheduled to square off, but the stakes are extra high this time, considering this is a trilogy bout.
Shevchenko is already one of the best female fighters of all time, but she still has plenty left in the tank. Meanwhile, Grasso has the potential to eventually have a resume as impressive as Shevchenko's. This fight has the potential to answer a lot of questions, but it could also lead to even more. A Grasso win would officially serve as a passing of the torch moment, whereas a Shevchenko win would mean the fighters would each have one win, one loss, and one tie against each other, which could lead to the rare tetralogy fight.
Main card and other fights
Brian Ortega vs. Diego Lopes is another highly anticipated fight taking place at UFC 306. In fact, it is a fight that was supposed to take place months prior at UFC 303. Ortega was forced to pull out of the fight at the last minute, which led to Dan Ige taking on Lopes in what was the shortest-notice fight ever. Ige and Lopes were applauded for their performance, one that Lopes won, and he was rewarded with a fight spot on the Sphere card.
This fight is still super intriguing, even though it didn't happen months ago. Lopes is one of the rising stars in the UFC, while Ortega is a master of the triangle choke and is trying to get back to championship contention.
The other fights on the main card are between Daniel Zellhuber vs. Esteban Ribovics and Ronaldo Rodriguez vs. Ode Osbourne. Zellhuber and Ribovics are entertaining lightweights who will likely deliver a Fight of the Night caliber match, while Rodriguez vs. Osbourne will be a classic prospect against veteran match.
The biggest fight before the main card actually takes place in the early prelims, not the prelims. The lone fight in the early prelims is between Raul Rosas Jr. and Aoriqileng. Rosas Jr. gained notoriety for becoming the youngest fighter to ever sign with the UFC, as he joined the promotion at age 17. He has since shown a lot of promise in his young MMA career, and UFC 306 will be the biggest stage that he has fought at.
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