The wait is finally over! The first sporting event at the incredible Sphere in Las Vegas, Nevada is taking place this Saturday night.
The Prelims will start at 8 P.M. ET on ESPN+ while the main card will air live on pay-per-view at 10 P.M. ET on ESPN+ PPV. “Suga” Sean O’Malley, arguably the UFC’s biggest active superstar is defending his Undisputed UFC Bantamweight Championship against No. 1 Merab Dvalishvilli in the Main Event. This is the second annual Noche UFC event, taking place on Mexican Independence Day.
This event has been hyped up and labeled by UFC CEO Dana White as the biggest event in UFC history. White has stated that a movie will air throughout the entire card beginning with the Prelims and is a “love letter to Mexico” as he put it. The UFC is the first sporting organization to put on an event at the one-of-a-kind, Sphere. White has said that the UFC will play little movies throughout the broadcast of this fight card.
O’Malley has labeled himself “The Suga Show,” because when he fights it is everything but ordinary. Suga has his body filled with tattoos, multi-colored hair, and supreme confidence but don’t let it all fool you. When that octagon cage door shuts, O’Malley is a certified killer and it has been that way from the moment he first stepped into the UFC.
“The end goal wasn’t to become champ, the end goal was to become the biggest combat sports athlete in history”, O’Malley said.
O’Malley has that it factor and that aura that only a select few fighters have ever had. O’Malley is currently ranked No. 6 on the UFC’s pound-for-pound list but is the second youngest champion at 29 years old behind only Ilia Topuria, who is the Undisputed Featherweight champion. With each fight, O’Malley continues to not only win but do it in spectacular fashion that few others are currently doing in the sport. In the past 14 months, O’Malley beat arguably the greatest bantamweight champion of all time Aljamain Sterling, and knocked him out in the second round.
In March of this year, Suga was searching for revenge. He called out perennial bantamweight contender Marlon “Chito” Vera. Once again, O’Malley didn’t just beat him, he broke him down and dominated Vera throughout the five-round fight.
The UFC has had big events already this year, UFC 300 and International Fight Week being the two biggest but with their first event taking place at the Sphere they needed not just any champion to headline it. So they called the rising superstar, and it is a perfect fit. O’Malley and the Sphere are a perfect match. The UFC’s biggest active star fighting at the most popular and intriguing venue just sounds right.
Next up for O’Malley is the No. 1 bantamweight contender in the world, Dvalishvilli. Sterling is a close friend and a long-time training partner of Merab. They both are on the Serra-Longo Fight Team with former UFC Welterweight champion Matt Serra and the legendary coach Ray Longo. O’Malley has faced adversity before when he lost to Vera but that was after he injured his leg. Yes, O’Malley’s record reads 18-1 but he still hasn’t lost while being fully healthy for an entire fight.
O’Malley is currently a -135 favorite while Merab is +114 on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Although the main event does not feature a Mexican star, the co-main event does. Women’s Flyweight champion Alexa Grasso is from Mexico and will defend her title in a trilogy fight with former champion Valentina Shevchenko. The two last fought on the first edition of Noche UFC a year ago and that contest ended up being a draw with Grasso retaining her title. Grasso out-landed Shevchenko 84-80 in significant strikes while the Bullet had over eight minutes of control time with four takedowns. This was a highly entertaining fight for 25 minutes and now the series stands at one win for Grasso and one draw.
In March 2023, Grasso beat Shevchenko by submission in the fourth round to become champion. That was the first time Shevchenko has ever been submitted in her career. Shevchenko is one of the best UFC women’s champions ever after dominating the flyweight division for four years with eight title wins.
This fight is also a close one according to the odds: Grasso is -135 as Shevchenko is +114 to regain her title at Draftkings Sportsbook.
One of the most popular rising stars in the sport is No. 13 Diego Lopes, who is 29 years old and is riding a four-fight winning streak in the UFC. Lopes was born in Brazil and grew up there. But, ten years ago, when Lopes was 19 years old, he moved to Mexico. Lopes realized his UFC dream while training at Lobo Gym MMA in Guadalajara, Mexico—the same gym that Grasso trains at. Lopes was scheduled to face No. 3 Brian “T-City” Ortega at UFC 303 on International Fight Week. That fight didn’t happen after Ortega had to pull out at the last minute. Lopes ended up facing and defeating Dan Ige on a few hours notice.
Although Lopes has looked super impressive during his four-fight win streak, he has not faced someone near the level of “T-City”. Ortega is a veteran of the UFC’s featherweight division and fought for the two times, but was unsuccessful. At UFC 266 in 2021, it seemed that Ortega was seconds away from submitting former champion Alexander Volkanovski but he escaped the position. After suffering a massive injury against Yair Rodriguez in 2022, he returned and this time submitted the former interim champion in the third round earlier this year. Can Lopes get his first top-five victory against the tough veteran or will Ortega remind everyone once again that he is undeniable? Lopes is the betting favorite at -192 while being +275 to win this fight by a KO/TKO on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Below is the entire card for UFC 306: Riyadh Season Noche UFC.
Main Card:
Main Event: Undisputed Bantamweight Championship Bout
(C) Sean O’Malley (18-1, 10-1 UFC) vs. No. 1 Merab Dvalishvilli (17-4, 10-2 UFC)
Co-Main Event: Undisputed Women’s Flyweight Championship Bout:
(C) Alexa Grasso (16-3-1, 8-3-1 UFC) vs. No. 1 Valentina Shevchenko (23-4-1, 12-3-1 UFC)
Featherweight Bout:
No. 3 Brian Ortega (16-3-, 8-3-1 UFC) vs. No. 13 Diego Lopes (25-6, 4-1 UFC)
Lightweight Bout:
Daniel Zellhuber (15-1, 3-1 UFC) vs. Esteban Ribovics (13-1, 2-1 UFC)
Flyweight Bout:
Ronaldo Rodriguez (16-2, 1-0 UFC) vs. Ode’ Osbourne( 12-7, 4-5 UFC)
Prelims:
Women’s Bantamweight Bout:
Irene Aldana (15-7, 8-5 UFC) vs. Norma Dumont (11-2, 7-2 UFC)
Lightweight Bout:
Manuel Torres (15-2, 3-0 UFC) vs. Ignacio Bahamondes ( 15-5, 4-2 UFC)
Women’s Strawweight Bout:
Yazmin Jauregui(11-1, 3-1 UFC) vs. Ketlen Souza (14-4, 1-1 UFC)
Flyweight Bout:
Edgar Chairez (11-5, 1-1-1 UFC) vs. Joshua Van (10-2, 3-1 UFC)
Bantamweight Bout:
Raul Rosas Jr. (9-0, 3-1 UFC) vs. Aoriqileng (25-11, 3-3-1 UFC)
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