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Will competing in a glowing LED ball affect the fighters at UFC 306? UFC CEO Dana White admits we won’t know if the Sphere works as a sports venue until after September 14th

Dana White has been promoting the hell of of UFC 306 aka Riyadh Season Noche UFC at the MSG Sphere, saying the September 14th show is going to be the most spectacular event the promotion has ever held. And how could it not be, considering the fights are being held inside a 16K resolution wraparound LED screen?

We’re starting to hear a little bit more about how the UFC Sphere show will look: there will be 90 second acts in between fights that form a larger film that tells the story of Mexico and Mexican combat sports. Then the fights will take place in different ‘worlds’ … what that looks like, we don’t know. Will the UFC strip things down for the fights to avoid sensory overload? Will the fighters be getting blasted by disorienting lights and visuals as they try to compete?

In a new interview with Grind City Media, White admitted he wasn’t sure how the venue might affect the fights themselves.

“We don’t know. We won’t know until late Saturday night,” he said. “You know, I won’t do outdoor arenas because of wind, bugs, rain, and lots of other things that can happen. But this is still a controlled environment where on September 14th, sports and entertainment are truly gonna come together at the same time. Does it work? Is it great? Is it awesome? Does it suck? We don’t know. We won’t know until it’s over, but we’re gonna try it.”

If things don’t work out, it won’t be for a lack of effort or preparedness.

“We’re gonna rehearse the s— out of this thing,” White said. “I’ll still know every detail. What I don’t know is if this works.”

“It will be fascinating to pull off a sporting event here where we’re basically doing movies. There will be a movie that night and in between movies, you know, we call them chapters of the movie, there will be fights. And you’ll see our thought process and how we laid it out and how we figured this would work that night. But at the end of the night, we’ll know whether it does [work] or it doesn’t.”

It’s been exciting watching White pull the UFC out of it’s regular groove (rut?) and do something so strange and different. Even if it falls short of expectations and production can’t quite gel the Sphere’s trippy capabilities with the singular focus needed for sports broadcasting, it sure beats just another event at the UFC Apex or T-Mobile Arena.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Alice Ardelean needs a new opponent for UFC Vegas 99 after Rayanne dos Santos suffered an arm break, the Brazilian strawweight announced on social media on Friday night.

UFC Vegas 99 is scheduled for Oct. 19 at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas and features Michel Pereira vs. Anthony Hernandez on the main event slot. It’s still unclear if Ardelean will remain on the card to face a new opponent.

“I was going to fight on October 19 in Las Vegas, against Alice Ardelean, but unfortunately broke my arm in training,” dos Santos wrote. “I still can’t believe it. I’m heartbroken, but God knows of all things. I’ll heal, and I can’t wait to get back.”

Ardelean (9-6) won five straight in the regional scene to earn a deal with the UFC this year, but lost a split decision to Shauna Bannon in her debut match.

Dos Santos (14-8), a former Invicta FC champion, has yet to win inside the octagon after dropping split decisions to Talita Alencar and Puja Tomar under the UFC banner.

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Arman Tsarukyan defeated Charles Oliveira at UFC 300 to become the undisputed title challenger in the UFC lightweight division. The champion Islam Makhachev defended his belt against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302, so fans were looking forward to his return before the end of the year. Unfortunately, a hand injury has forced Makhachev to be […]

Continue Reading Arman Tsarukyan Lays Down Condition For Charles Oliveira Rematch – ‘I Beat Him Via Unanimous Decision’ at MMA News.

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Usman Nurmagomedov and Lorenz Larkin capped off the Bellator San Diego card on Saturday night with a pair of impressive wins so it stands to reason they are also the highest paid fighters coming out of the event.

On Sunday, the California State Athletic Commission revealed the salaries for the Bellator San Diego card with Nurmagomedov and Larkin leading the way as the only fighters who earned six-figures.

In the main event, Nurmagomedov defended his lightweight title with a one-sided victory over Alexander Shabliy but his payday was already guaranteed no matter what. Nurmagomedov took home $ 100,000 with no additional win bonus following his latest title defense.

For his part, Shabliy earned $ 50,000 in defeat as he came up short in his bid to hand Nurmagomedov the first loss of his career.

Meanwhile, Larkin delivered a highlight reel knockout over Levan Chokheli to cement himself as the No. 1 contender in the Bellator welterweight division. He also earned $ 100,000 for his paycheck with Larkin revealing prior to the event that Saturday served as the final bout on his current Bellator contract.

Considering the way he won and the the promotion touting him as the next title contender, it’s tough to imagine Bellator won’t push hard to re-sign Larkin to a new deal.

Here are the full salaries for Bellator San Diego:

Usman Nurmagomedov: $ 100,000, no win bonus

Alexander Shabliy: $ 50,000

Lorenz Larkin: $ 100,000, no win bonus

Levan Chokheli: $ 41,000

Aaron Jeffrey: $ 60,000 — $ 30,000 to show, $ 30,000 to win

Douglas Lima: $ 50,000

Sumiko Inaba: $ 82,000 — $ 41,000 to show, $ 41,000 to win

Mackzenzie Stiller: $ 13,000

Jora Ayvazyan: $ 40,000 — $ 20,000 to show, $ 20,000 to win

Yancy Medeiros: $ 25,000

Jordan Newman: $ 36,000 — $ 18,000 to show, $ 18,000 to win

Imamshafi Aliev: $ 30,000

Masayuki Kikuiri: $ 26,000 — $ 13,000 to show, $ 13,000 to win

Herman Terrado: $ 7,500

Bryce Meredith: $ 30,000, no win bonus

John MaCalolooy: $ 5,000

Josh Hokit: $ 26,000 — $ 13,000 to show, $ 13,000 to win

Sean Rose: $ 2,000

Ashley Thiner: $ 4,000 — $ 2,000 to show, $ 2,000 to win

Aysia Cortez: $ 10,000

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MMA: Mixed Martial Arts

Merab Dvalishvili didn’t get anything handed to him as he rose up the UFC ranks before finally being granted a title shot against Sean O’Malley at UFC 306.

The Georgian fighter put together a remarkable 10-fight win streak and had to take out three former champions — Jose Aldo, Petr Yan, and Henry Cejudo — in order to secure his shot at gold. Of course, Dvalishvili isn’t afraid of a little hard work, but that also makes him a little bit salty when he hears Umar Nurmagomedov being called the No. 1 contender in the division following his win over Cory Sandhagen in August.

As impressive as it was for Nurmagomedov to beat Sandhagen in his first fight against a ranked opponent, Dvalishvili believes the Russian bantamweight got preferential treatment built solely around his famous last name.

“Let’s talk about it this way — Umar is a good fighter, we all know this, but he fights nobody from the top 15, and now of course UFC gives him a gift [with] No. 2 Cory Sandhagen; if he wins, he’s right there,” Dvalishvili told MMA Fighting.

“Now he wins, so now he’s right there. He’s been disrespectful. He’s calling [out] Sean O’Malley, he’s calling [out] me. Like bro, give us respect and let us fight and chill out a little bit. What the f*ck? You don’t fight nobody and now you just got here because your last name is Nurmagomedov, because you’re Khabib’s cousin.”

Of course, Khabib Nurmagomedov retired undefeated as the reigning UFC lightweight champion and remains one of the most talked about fighters on the planet despite not fighting since 2020.

He also serves as one of Umar’s primary coaches after both came up under family patriarch Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov while growing up in Dagestan.

Familial ties or not, Dvalisvhili feels like Nurmagomedov slid into the fight against Sandhagen without really earning it, and now he’s trying to do the same with a potential title shot looming on the horizon.

“Good for him, but he has to grow up,” Dvalishvili said. “He has to be more of a man. He has to respect fighters here. We’ve been here a long time and he’s acting a little bit disrespectful. He’s talking too much. I’m talking about the truth.

“Yes, he’s a good fighter, but he got pushed because he’s Khabib’s cousin and he has to be humble. He has to be a little bit relaxed. He shows us disrespect, and same thing, he’s going to get it at the right time when the time comes. Now, let us fight and wait your turn.”

With the bantamweight title up for grabs at UFC 306, Dvalishvili would like to see Nurmagomedov get another quality win before he starts calling for his own shot at the championship.

“He should just fight [Deiveson] Figueiredo,” Dvalishvili said. “He should fight somebody. [Maybe] Petr Yan. He just beat one guy from the top 15. Come on, chill out a little bit. That’s all I have for him. I don’t want to talk about him. That’s it.

“Let them fight each other, Figueiredo versus Umar, that would be a good fight. Actually Figueiredo deserves it more. He’s a former champion, he’s a big name. He’s been fighting. He already beat one former champion and two guys from the top 15. Actually, [Marlon] ‘Chito’ Vera doesn’t count because ‘Chito’ Vera is not a top-15 fighter. He sucks. But Figueiredo deserves it more. He has my respect. He’s a man and he’s been respectful and he’s cool and he didn’t get here because he’s somebody’s cousin. He got here by himself. He’s a good fighter. He’s been there. He was a champion. At least he’s humble and he’s a real fighter.”

Since moving to bantamweight, former UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo has been impressive with wins over Vera, Cody Garbrandt, and Rob Font, but it remains to be seen if he’ll get a title shot.

Obviously, Dvalishvili prefers that option if he beats O’Malley on Sept. 14, but he definitely doesn’t want to hear about Nurmagomedov getting that opportunity off one win over a top-five ranked opponent.

“Umar talking about [a title shot], some bullshit there,” Dvalishvili “[Before he fought Sandhagen] he defeated somebody [in their] debut and then now he wants to fight for the belt? You are out of your mind.”

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