UFC gets ready to rumble at Las Vegas Sphere

Image: The Sphere at the Venetian Resort, Tomás Del Coro, CC BY-SA 2.0

The Las Vegas Sphere is gearing up to host its first ever sporting event when the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) hits Sin City next year.

Men’s Journal stated that since hosting visually stunning spectacles including a U2 residency, a Darren Aronofsky-directed film, and an impressive Fourth of July light show, the venue is now gearing up to take on UFC.

UFC president Dana White confirmed that a UFC fight is scheduled to take place at the Sphere in 2024.

The 18,600-capacity Sphere at the Venetian Resort opened in September. Commonly referred to as the Sphere and previously as the MSG Sphere, is a spherical music and entertainment arena in Paradise, Nevada, United States, near the Las Vegas Strip and East of the Venetian Resort.

The proposed date for the show – September 16 – is also significant. “Mexican Independence Day, we are booked for the Sphere,” White said, adding that he and his team are “already working on the creative for the show.”

The UFC has held the majority of its cards in Las Vegas since its first event at the MGM Grand Arena in 2001.

When asked if putting on a UFC fight at the massive $2.3 billion venue would come with challenges, White said, “It’s going to be a massive challenge, and I love every minute of it. I can’t wait to dive into this thing.”

“I’m super excited about this. I love challenges. Everybody keeps saying to me ‘I don’t understand how you’re going to put the octagon in there,’ ‘I don’t understand how you’re going to do this,’ ‘I don’t understand how you’re going to do that,'” he continued. “Remember that I said this to you tonight: I’m going to put on the greatest live combat sport show anybody has ever seen.”

MMA might be the first sport played inside the Sphere, but the brilliant exterior has already had some involvement in the sports world. Earlier this summer, the NBA ran ads on the massive building for its Summer League and In-Season Tournament.

Aside from its unique shape, the Sphere features a wraparound internal LED screen that takes visuals to the next level. A $2.3 billion massive spherical venue, it stands 366 feet (111 metres) high and lights up the Las Vegas skyline.

The Sphere boasts the world’s largest concert-grade audio system, comprising 1,586 loudspeaker modules, 167,000 speaker drivers, amplifiers, and processing channels, as well as 300 mobile loudspeaker modules.

The first-of-its-kind venue currently hosts the ‘U2:UV Achtung Baby Live’ concert series – which runs until February 2024.

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