At UFC 306 at the Sphere everything went according to plan – except the fights themselves

LAS VEGAS — Five years ago, the UFC traveled to Mexico City to celebrate Mexican Independence Day with a fight headlined by Chihuahua's Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens, and things couldn't have gone any worse even if a million locusts had descended on the Mexico City arena.

A flyweight straight out of 19th century Russian literature named Askar Askarov fought Mexico's Brandon Moreno in the evening's swing fight, and had to settle for a draw just before Guadalajara's Alexa Grasso was thrashed by Carla Esparza. As if all that wasn't enough of a mood killer, Rodriguez – the prescribed hero of the evening – poked Stephens in the eye just 15 seconds into the main event, preventing him from continuing.

Then the beers and popcorn started flying like crazy. I can still remember the commentators ducking under the announce table to avoid getting hit.

Therefore, Dana White's words at his post-fight press conference at UFC 306 were perhaps the truest spoken at the UFC's first (and perhaps last) event at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

“You can put on a $20 million production, but you can't control the fights,” White said. “They're going to be what they are, so I can't let that drive me crazy.”

No, it doesn't work, as Valentina Shevchenko proved when she pinned Grasso to the mat for 25 minutes to regain her women's flyweight title. Chaos can only be controlled by those who do it themselves, and the Kyrgyz fighter wasn't about to get involved in a romantic “love letter.”

Nevertheless, what the UFC could The control was damn amazing.

To be at the Sphere on Saturday night was to be thrown into an experience like no other – a living, breathing tribute to Mexico designed to overwhelm the senses. The atmosphere changed with short Mexican vignettes that spoke of the country's fighting spirit across 160,000 square feet of finely dimmed LEDs before settling into an environment like working your way through the levels of a video game for each fight on the main card.

The amazing fight between Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber took place in a Dia de los Muertos-style town square, with thousands of orange and red flowers, flickering candles and skeletons playing instruments. When Ronaldo Rodriguez fought Ode Osbourne to kick off the pay-per-view portion of the event, the cool Mayan ruins were the backdrop. And when the UFC's big bantamweight star Sean O'Malley headed out for his title defense against Merab Dvalishvili, we were somewhere in the future.

Spaceship-shaped jacks hovered above them as fans in attendance sat in complete awe, wondering exactly when O'Malley would let go of his hands.

It turns out he didn't do it until 90 seconds before the end of the 25-minute bout, far too late to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Being draped in digital serapes didn't help “Suga” Sean defeat a dogged wrestler like Dvalishvili, who put up exactly the fight he needed to win the 135-pound title. As happens when a determined grinder destroys a striker in a big spot, the majority of the 16,000-strong crowd was not thrilled. There was a sense that an era was ending before it could really begin.

Wasn't the Suga Show the best show ever? Dvalishvili ate up that “it” factor like the stacks of tickets in the vending machines at Chuck E. Cheese. Down the street at the T-Mobile Arena, boxer Canelo Álvarez faced an opponent who would have to shock the world to beat him in Edgar Berlanga. Canelo prevailed, as he always does on these Mexican Independence Day weekends, and gave the people what they expected.

But that's not how it is in the UFC. When the game is built on hype, the potential for disappointment competes very much with the potential for fireworks in any fight. It's all a big emotional (and financial) gamble. There are no guarantees. It may be that a fight like Ribovics-Zellhuber – which Joe Rogan called “one of the best fights I've ever seen in my life” – embodies the meaning of the evening, only to then see Shevchenko put a damper on the party with one of the most dominant performances of her career.

White stated that UFC Noche would bring his best. In fact, his exact words were: “Remember what I told you tonight: I'm going to put on the greatest live combat sports show that anyone has ever seen.”

Did he?

It was an experience. When so many events converge, UFC 306 stands out as something completely amazing. otherespecially for those in attendance. Mexico got the epic party it promised, even if the final score was 3-6 for the Mexican fighters on the card. In the end, two belts changed hands as a Georgian fighter won the main event and a Kyrgyz-Peruvian fighter won the co-main. There was no beer or popcorn thrown because everything went according to plan, except maybe the results.

In a weird way, that's the beauty of the sport. You can put on a $20 million production, but the fighters never have to participate.