“They forgot to stack O’Malley’s card” – Dana White’s dream project slashes ticket prices after much-hyped ‘Sphere’ event doesn’t sell out

Is it the huge ticket price or lackluster fight card? UFC 306 (Noche UFC) struggles to sell out Dana White's dream project.

“They forgot to stack O’Malley’s card” – Dana White’s dream project slashes ticket prices after much-hyped ‘Sphere’ event doesn’t sell out

UFC lowers the price of tickets for the upcoming Sphere event headlined by Dana White's favorite Sean O'Malley (via Imago)

Dana White has invested over $20 million in the UFC Las Vegas Sphere event. UFC 306 (Noche UFC) will feature bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley and title challenger Merab Dvalishvili as the main attractions. Even though White had great intentions for the occasion, it appears that the promotion may have overreached itself. 

White has been hyping up the UFC Sphere event even before officially announcing the fight card. However, within nearly two weeks of the PPV, the promotion struggles to sell their tickets. One of the major reasons for this was the atrociously high ticket prices. As such, UFC 306 (Noche UFC) has yet to complete selling the tickets. To tackle the situation, UFC has reduced the minimum ticket prices.

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Initially, the ticket prices for the UFC Sphere event were as high as $17,000. On the other hand, the cheapest ones were around $3K. However, after struggling with ticket sales, the promotion has decided to lower it to $1K. White has made it his goal to host the greatest live combat sports event in history at the Sphere. Those plans, though, appear to be in for a surprise as over 3,000 tickets remain unsold.

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Other than the high ticket prices, many experts believe that Sean O’Malley doesn’t have the superstar status to sell such a big pay-per-view. Henry Cejudo mocked O’Malley’s credentials to sell PPVs by mentioning that ‘Suga’ vs. Aljamain Sterling only did 350K buys. On the other hand, Aljo believed that O’Malley wouldn’t be able to sell out the Las Vegas Sphere as their fight underperformed in PPV sales.

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According to Dana White, he is presenting a “love letter to Mexican people” at the $2.3 billion building in Las Vegas Sphere event. The UFC CEO was confident about O’Malley’s star power and was ready to go to war with Canelo Alvarez. The Mexican powerhouse is also fighting on the same night, only a few miles from the Sphere. However, UFC 306 (Noche UFC) has yet to sell all the tickets.

Dana White's promotion yet to sell all the tickets for UFC 306 (Noche UFC)
Dana White’s promotion is yet to sell all the tickets for UFC 306, akaNoche UFC (via X)

Besides the ticket price, Sean O’Malley’s star power came into question. Moreover, the fight card doesn’t feature big names. UFC 299, headlined by O’Malley, had stars like Dustin Poirier, Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera, Benoit Saint-Denis, Jack Della Maddalena, Gilbert Burns, Michael Venom Page, Kevin Holland, Petr Yan, and Curtis Blaydes.

Meanwhile, UFC 306 only has Dvalishvili, Valentina Shevchenko, Alexa Grasso, Brian Ortega, and Diego Lopes as the notable stars. Even fans have complained about the lack of big names for the Noche UFC card. The ticket debacle has gone viral. Here are some of the reactions:

Many users mentioned the lack of an exciting card in the undercard of Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili. Others predicted that the prices would go down even more as the fight gets closer. Nevertheless, seeing the overall business UFC manages to do after the Sphere event would be interesting.

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