Boxing promoters are apparently competing with UFC CEO Dana White to be the first in to The Sphere, but White dismisses them.
White said he’s “obsessed” about the brand new Las Vegas venue, which is run by the Madison Square Garden Company, and vows a Noche UFC event will be the first fight promotion inside the LED-covered dome.
“So if The Sphere is smart, they don’t let anybody go in there until we go in there to do a live event,” White said at the post-fight press conference for Contender Series Season 7, Week 10. “The first live transmission from there should be us. And that’s why I’m saying September, obviously, because I want it for Independence Day, right? But it’ll take that long for us to really work this thing out and figure it out.
“Plus, the other thing is I will spend the money to make it, right? Boxing is gonna f*** around with them on the tickets, and they don’t have the money to do it. None of those bums got the money to do it. I’ll do it, and boxing, it will be an absolute f****** nightmare for The Sphere.”
White didn’t name the promoters who were vying for the spot, but when asked about a report that Oscar De La Hoya and Bob Arum – former business partners turned rival promoters – were thinking about uniting for an event at The Sphere, the UFC CEO scoffed.
“Good luck to him,” White said of De La Hoya, his longtime punching bag. “What are they gonna do? Oscar gonna put up the money, Bob gonna put up the money? Who’s gonna put up the money for both of them? I can’t wait to see it. … Do you think they’re both gonna put up the money? You think they’re gonna pay to program The Sphere and put on an in-house show?
“[It costs] s***loads of money. Hundreds of thousands to $1 million dollars. Maybe more. How do you get the money? You go in there because you want to put on the baddest motherf****** live sporting event anybody’s ever seen. I’m obsessed. Nobody will do it better than we will. That’s a fact. I don’t care what they say, and listen, if boxing can go in there, and they can put on the event, and they can do it, more power to him.
“You know what happens when a boxing event happens – it’s going out of business sale. Let’s grab as much money as we possibly can make, one big fight, with a s***** undercard. Let’s not spend any money on production. Good luck seeing a f****** replay. Come on. You guys, you know better, you guys just like to push my buttons, get me to say a bunch of s*** so you can chop it up and put it on social media. You know the truth, you know what’s up, they’re not gonna do it. Let’s unite. Bob’s 92. Oscar is a f****** lunatic. Come on.”
The UFC promoted Noche UFC this past month as a tribute to Mexican Independence Day. It was held at T-Mobile Arena, the promotion’s longtime home for pay-per-view events. White said to move, the UFC would need time to modify its lighting setup to accommodate the venue’s unique design. That’s why September of 2024 worked as a potential target, and he said he made that point very clear to MSG executives.
“I’ve been talking to MSG every day since [I went to the venue],” he said. “The experience was amazing. Have you guys gone yet? It’s special. It’s incredible. So, yes, I have been torturing them since I left on Saturday. I literally had my secretary call and make a Zoom meeting with them again today.
“These boxing guys are calling them up going, ‘oh, we wanna do a fight,’ those f****** guys. They’re not gonna spend the money to put a f****** show on in there. Those guys can’t even do f****** replays, for Christ’s sake. They think they’re going to f****** put on an event at The Sphere.”
“I’m just going to tell you right now, I will put on the greatest live combat sports event anybody has ever seen at The Sphere in September for Mexican Independence Day, I f****** guarantee it,” he added later. “So I’m so in on this, it’s not even funny.”