UFC 306 at The Sphere: MSG Entertainment's Joel Fisher Goes Inside The Sphere's First Live Sporting Event With Noche UFC By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, September 12, 2024 - 3:24 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
On Saturday night, a new era in live sports will dawn with the first ever live sporting event to be hosted at The Sphere in Las Vegas. UFC 306 at Riyadh Season Noche UFC is being dubbed as a once-in-a-lifetime immersive sporting event that will utilize Sphere's next-gen tech to create an entirely different kind of live event experience. Following more than a year of planning and collaboration between the UFC and the venue's owner, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Saturday night's event will finally bring the power of The Sphere to live sports.
Joel Fisher, EVP, Marquee Events and Operations, Madison Square Garden Entertainment
Dana White, who says the event cost $20 million to produce, calls UFC 306 at Riyadh Season Noche UFC a love letter' to Mexico and a tribute to the Mexican people for their contributions to combat sports. In celebration of Mexican Independence Day, UFC has created a series of films that will take over the 160,000 sq. ft. and 16K x 16K resolution interior display plane during the event. In addition to the world's highest resolution LED display and advanced concert-grade audio system, fans inside the Sphere will be able to genuinely feel the action thanks to the venue's haptic seats, which provide force feedback based on the action in the Octagon. In addition, the Exosphere will be utilized throughout the night with key art and highlights to bring fans closer to the event, while in-house stats and information feeds will showcase real-time stats and fighter information integrated onto the interior display plane of Sphere.
In anticipation of this historic production, SVG sat down with Joel Fisher, EVP, Marquee Events and Operations, Madison Square Garden Entertainment, to discuss how UFC came to be the first live sport to take place in The Sphere, his company's collaborative relationship with White and the UFC, what fans can expect inside - and outside - the venue on Saturday night, the key differences between presenting a U2 concert experience and live sporting event at The Sphere, and what other sports he expects to welcome to the venue in the future.
Can you tell me how the initial idea for this event came about?
We [at Madison Square Garden] have a long history as I think with the UFC, including helping them get sanctioned for the first event here in New York with UFC 205. We invited Dana to see U2 at The Sphere and he was absolutely blown away. He called me the next day to say UFC wanted to be the first live sporting event in The Sphere. That was the beginning of months of conversations and planning.
And once the event was finalized, what did the early planning stages look like?
We all agreed that if we were going to do this and do it right, we needed to plan well in advance and all have a unified vision of what this was going to look like. So about a year ago, I met with Craig Borsari [Chief Content Officer and Executive Producer] and Pete Dropick [EVP, Event Development & Operations] during a Top Rank boxing event here at the Garden and we worked closely together from that point forward to ensure that everything was perfect.
The sphere really was a vision directly from our chairman and CEO Jim Dolan. And he just really wanted to create this new medium that disrupted the traditional venue model and shook up an industry that hasn't been innovated in a long time. So to be able to deliver the first live sporting event and broadcast it to the world - there will be as many as a billion people watching - is very exciting for both us and UFC.
Can you take me inside what the experience will look like for fans on Saturday night?
The experience starts before you've even entered [the venue] because we have the exosphere, which creates a one-of-a-kind visual experience. Then once you get into the building, fans will be able to explore and interact with immersive technology experiences in the Atrium. The UFC is taking over the entire atrium and decorating it around the theme of Mexican Independence Day. So the second you walk in, you'll feel that you're immersed in this special event, including a mariachi band and a variety of content on the different displays.
And we also have plenty of exciting moment leading up to the fight. On Thursday, we are doing the press conference right outside in one of our parking lots with The Sphere as the background. On Friday, they will do the weigh-in outside in front of the sphere with UFC creative [content] on the exosphere. And UFC is also doing a fan fest starting on Friday that runs through the pre-fight preparations on Saturday.
On fight night, fans are going to experience something that's literally never been seen before in sports. We've worked with UFC on these six films that will be [displayed] on our incredible 16K media plane These interstitials will be seen throughout the night between the fights and will provide a tribute to Mexico and their history and fighting in MMA. So it should be really incredible. I've been fortunate to see a lot of the storyboards and content that they're presenting and it's going to be a genuine spectacle.
Then we also have an audio system that is unlike anything else you've ever heard, as well as haptic seats so that [fans] will actually feel it when somebody gets hit or hits the canvas. People inside the building are going to get this overall experience that you simply cannot match in a regular venue.
What are the major differences between presenting a live concert or entertainment event at The Sphere and producing a live sporting event? What are the pr
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Witbe brings its AI-native testing and monitoring infrastructure to Amsterdam: demonstrations on real devices, a peer-reviewed technical paper in the conference...
23/07/2026
Quickplay, Caretta Research, Evergent, and Yospace have announced that the renowned IBC Pride Happy Hour will once again bring the vibe and fun back to IBC on F...
23/07/2026
At IBC2026, Interra Systems will present this year's focus: operational AI at scale for QC, monitoring, and captioning workflows. The industry has moved pas...
23/07/2026
Illusionfx is finally coming!
Alex Perea July 23, 2026
0 Comments
The new website is now live to mark the occasion.
Since the last update, feedback h...
23/07/2026
Evergent (5.A86) will showcase its Agentic Revenue Orchestration Platform for streaming services, sports leagues, pay-TV operators at IBC2026 (RAI Amsterdam, 11...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/07/2026
David Dvir, 2D founder (left), Sundeep Reddy (center), and Jean-Marc Bouchut (right), both of Zeiss...
23/07/2026
Screen Australia announces new national documentary accelerator program 23 July 2026
Screen Australia has today announced the Above the Line Documentary Accel...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial has today announced Centra as the official food partner once again of The Traitors Ireland, coming to RT One and RT Player later this year.
Ce...
23/07/2026
RT Commercial today announced Honda as sponsor of Today with David McCullagh RT Radio 1, weekdays 9am 11am.
Broadcasting directly after Morning Ireland in ...
23/07/2026
RT News is pleased to announce Barry Gallagher has been assigned as the new journalist covering news from Cork, Kerry and the wider Southern region
Working al...
23/07/2026
Lock in and load up the cloud. GFN Thursday brings fresh updates and new adventu...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
UFC 306 at The Sphere: MSG Entertainment's Joel Fisher Goes Inside The Sphere's First Live Sporting Event With Noche UFC By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
