Between the 160,000-square-foot LED screen, the in-house movie and countless other remarkable feats of modern technology, Noche UFC at The Sphere is set to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ show with some of the best visuals that fans have ever witnessed at a combat sports event.
Yet with the promotion investing so much money into this weekend’s PPV, some $20 million at the last count, there will be various parts of the UFC 306 mega-show that will also be used in future Fight Night events and PPVs.
UFC Executive explains what parts of UFC 306 will be used in future events
Despite Dana White stating that Noche UFC will be a ‘once in a lifetime’ PPV and that the promotion is unlikely to ever return to The Sphere again after September 14, that isn’t to say that the UFC won’t be retaining a few of the show’s key elements.
Speaking during a fascinating Q&A session with the creative figures behind UFC 306, Chief Content Officer and Executive Producer Craig Borsari would explain what parts of the show are set to be retained for future events.
First up, the new lighting rigs; with Borsari quick to congratulate veteran reporter John Morgan on identifying that the promotion had been testing out a few different setups for the lights during their most recent Fight Night events.
“Yes, that is [part of the package], we have actually been testing it for quite a while and testing it inside here in The Apex, which is our own little test lab, and that is one of a multitude of different lighting fixtures that we’re putting into play on Saturday night.”
The second Noche UFC element added to the ‘retained’ list are some of the new cameras, with Borsari explaining how the upcoming PPV will be the first time that a lot of these new cameras have been used.
“Yeah, I would say – and it may not be built into every one of our shows – but some of the specialty cameras that we’re going to use on Saturday that we’ve never used before, I could absolutely see us using it in the right show going forward outside of The Sphere.”
Yet the third and final aspect of UFC 306 which the promotion hopes to use for future events isn’t even something technological – more collaboration with creative filmmakers.
“I would say cameras and honestly, we needed to create something at the level Carlos has with this film, I would absolutely go back to Carlos [López Estrada] and Valerie [Bush] to work with them again. It may not just be a technical execution; it could be just the amazing collaborators that have been on this show from the get-go for months and months working their butt off.”
UFC President Dana White has been particularly excited with the ‘movie’ that is set to be broadcast this weekend, one that’ll reportedly go through the entire history of combat sports in Mexico between bouts.
The movie will also feature a collection of ‘easter eggs’ related to the UFC 306 show and if fans can spot all of them from the main card, they could be in with the chance to win a sweet $25,000 from White himself.
Back to the creative panel, Borsari noted that the UFC would look to work with such talented filmmakers for future events, with the suggestion being that location-specific, in-house film productions could become more common when they travel outside the Apex.
“I will say just on that team, that broader creative team who have helped us to get to this point, there are a lot of talented, skilled people out there who are incredible artists when it comes to creating this type of content.
“The work ethic that they brought to the table – we have a bit of arrogance at the UFC, and you’re probably not shocked to hear that about us, working at a crazy pace, [but] this team was in lockstep with us.”
Even as the production team worked through the night in preparation for the Noche UFC show, those filmmakers were there every step of the way.
“They were sprinting step-for-step all the way with us and when I show up at 1 AM in the morning, there’s been a team there for hours testing the content and starting to get concerned about sleep hours here in the final days… It’s been an unbelievable effort from the team.”
So, there we have it; there are three things that could be implemented into future UFC shows after this weekend, 1) New lighting technology, 2) New high-tech cameras, and 3) More involvement from creative filmmakers.
UFC 306 goes down live from The Sphere on Saturday, September 14.
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