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Dana White’s massive combat experiment at UFC 306 from inside The Sphere was not only a success for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), but the once-in-a-lifetime event helped fuel a record-setting month for Las Vegas sportsbooks.

This past September, sportsbooks across Nevada ended up winning a whopping $ 80.9 million (per ESPN). This is the most ever in a single month in the history of the state. That’s saying a lot considering Las Vegas is the sports betting capital of the world. Needless to say, the sportsbooks and casinos were happy to see the cash rolling in.

While a large majority of that money comes from the opening weeks of the NFL’s regular season there was about $ 10.4 million calculated under an “Other” category, which consists of soccer, boxing, MMA, auto racing, golf and tennis all lumped into one. Fortunately for bookmakers across the state, September featured a Canelo Alvarez boxing match and UFC 306’s legendary event from inside The Sphere.

According to Derek Stevens, the owner of Circa Sports, UFC 306 was a large contributor to the $ 10 million in winnings. What made things even more profitable for the sportsbooks is the fact that the pay-per-view (PPV) card featured an upset in the main event, which was Merab Dvalishvili outlasting Sean O’Malley to win the undisputed UFC bantamweight championship.

“The volume on that day was tremendous,” said Stevens. “That was the biggest weekend of the whole month.”

While UFC 306 was an overall success for the promotion it didn’t quite bring in the high dollar amount that White had expected. In fact, tickets weren’t selling as fast as they should have and were drastically slashed. This resulted in White reducing the gate for UFC 306 from $ 25-$ 27 million all the way down to $ 21 million (which still set the company record). Keep in mind, it cost UFC around $ 20 million to stage the event in the first place.

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Carlos Prates wants to boost his meteoric rise in the UFC with a top-ranked foe in the first quarter of 2025.

Now 3-0 in the UFC, with a trio of bonus-winning knockouts this year, Prates headlines UFC Vegas 100 this Saturday against 33-time octagon welterweight veteran Neil Magny at the UFC APEX, and already has a target in mind for his next bout. Previously linked to a fight with Randy Brown, he plans to call for a bigger name instead.

“I think I’ll be way ahead with a win over Neil Magny,” Prates said in an interview with MMA Fighting. “I’ll be ranked, and there’s no point fighting Randy Brown anymore. He ran from me once, there’s no point chasing him—although I think he’s way easier than Neil Magny. I was looking at the ranking, and I want to fight in Australia in February. Maybe I’ll call out Jack Della Maddalena.”

UFC’s return to Sydney is scheduled for Feb. 8 and Maddalena is expected to be on the card after winning seven straight in the octagon, most recently a third-round stoppage over Gilbert Burns. Prates finished Li Jingliang this past August.

“I don’t know if the UFC would make this fight because of the rankings, but that’s the fight I want at the moment,” Prates said. “And I don’t know if he would take this fight either since I’m ranked lower than him, but that fight would make me happy and I think it makes sense. Let’s go! If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”

Maddalena has won five of his seven UFC bouts via stoppage and Prates is confident he could be the first to finish the Australian standout inside the octagon.

“We would break each other in there,” Prates said with a laugh. “He’s a durable guy and hard to knock out, so I think it would be three rounds of war. I think I’d beat him, but it would be tough. It would be awesome.”

Magny is his next assignment and Prates predicts a finish before entering the championship rounds to make a case for a big name next, especially after seeing Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry get big jumps in the division after beating the veteran.

Prates admitted he expected to be the favorite against Magny, but was surprised to see the veteran such a heavy underdog odds-wise. The 31-year-old striker, however, vows not to underestimate Magny in Las Vegas.

“I expected to be the favorite considering my 10-fight winning streak and my knockouts and the fact I’m younger, but not by that much,” Prates said. “I see comments online of people kind of underestimating Neil Magny. I think I’ll win, I think I’ll knock him out, but I don’t expect an easy fight like some are saying because he’s experienced and can slow down a fight. He’s ranked No. 15 in the world for a reason, right? He’s beaten a lot of hyped fighters, so I’m working to make sure he doesn’t derail my hype.”

“I think I’ll knock him out around the third round,” he added. “He won’t come in trying to trade with me. I think he will wrestle and try to hold me against the cage. I don’t even know if he will try to take me down, just do that boring fight, you know? That’s what I expect. If he comes in trading, that’s great, but I’m ready for everything.”

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UFC fighters Denise Gomes, Jessica Andrade, and Karol Rosa have joined forces to create a new all-women’s MMA team to ignite change in Brazil.

Gomes, who enters the octagon Saturday to face one-time UFC title contender Karolina Kowalkiewicz at UFC Vegas 100 in Las Vegas, said that GAEA Project was born in Sao Paulo from a desire to give women better training environment and support, especially after experiencing past situations “no athlete needs to experience.”

“GAEA Project came to give girls the opportunity to work freely, work the correct way, and give them option in training,” Gomes said in an interview with MMA Fighting. The trio of UFC fighters were part of PRVT, which closed doors after the retirement of coach and manager Gilliard Parana. Andrade said she will file a lawsuit against Parana.

“The truth is, our previous team ended and we kind of had no place else to go,” she continued. “Based on the things we went through there before, we were more selective of what we wanted to do and where we wanted to go. The team ended, but Karol, Jessica and I remained together, so we decided, alongside other great people, to create our own team.”

Gomes said GAEA Project, a non-profit company based on empathy and cooperation to empower women, is a place where female athletes can go and train for upcoming fights without the need to necessarily part ways with their original teams, creating opportunity for women to do their camp and at the same time helping full-time GAEA members.

GAEA Project’s first assignment in the UFC is Gomes’ strawweight clash with Kowalkiewicz this Saturday, with the Brazilian looking to go 4-2 in the company after a June victory over Eduarda Moura. The Polish talent was riding a four-fight winning stream before dropping a decision to Iasmin Lucindo in May.

“It’s a privilege to be here [fighting Kowalkiewicz],” Gomes said. “She has fought so many girls that are role models, and now I’m fighting her. I obviously respect her history, but I want to build my own story. … She’s a striker than can grapple, but I think she will try to take me down instead of trading on the feet. I’m confident in my hands and in the grappling area, and I will be able to use all the weapons I have.”

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The UFC will host their 100th UFC Fight Night event at the APEX in Las Vegas this Saturday for UFC Vegas 100, and in the main event, welterweight veteran Neil Magny will look to slow the incredible momentum of Carlos Prates. What is at stake in Saturday’s headliner?

Ahead of this weekend’s slate, MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Jed Meshew preview the event, the Magny vs. Prates headliner, what Prates could gain with his fourth win of the year in the octagon, and the chances Magny has to pull off the upset. Additionally, they’ll discuss the overall quality of the card, the middleweight tilt between Gerald Meerschaert and former ONE champ Reinier de Ridder, and much more.

Catch the UFC Vegas 100 preview show above. An audio-only version of the show can be found below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.

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