UFC 306: The night Endeavor's Sphere of Hollywood influence was cemented

TKO's vision of turning major fight events into mini-movies has been realized.

UFC 306 was the ultimate clash of values for Endeavor’s ownership of Mixed Martial Arts: process vs. substance. An A+ never-seen-before presentation and slickly-produced movie machine versus a C- (at best) fight card.

The process argument is winning out for Wall Street.

On Saturday night, I had the chance to join 30 other strangers in an unpaid focus group to watch UFC 306. (One day I’ll reveal more details about it.)

I avoided reading online commentary before, during, and after the show in order to avoid influencing my opinions with the notes I jotted down for this column.

(Post-article note: I’m glad I didn’t read anything online before writing this column. Online reaction has been one extreme or another. Either complete celebration or total disgust and mockery. I didn’t see either extreme reaction with the group of people I was with.)

I realize that in terms of a viewership group, especially for a fight show, I’m like the spotted leopard in the zoo. I’m old by current UFC standards. I’m not “Mr. Grabaka Hitman” Caposa but I watch RIZIN, DEEP, PFL, ONE, and a lot of other fight promotions today. I know the history of the business.

The group was mostly 35-to-44-year olds, some Hispanic but largely white, who are modern UFC fans but not old-time UFC fans. Only a couple of people recognized Chuck Liddell. Alex Pereira and Bruce Buffer were by far the biggest stars in the eyes of the normies I was with. Bruce’s energy is irreplaceable.

There was minimal reaction to Jon Jones or the MSG fight announcement.

The lessons that I observed — and some of the opinions these fans raised — opened my eyes to what UFC represents in 2024, where the business stands, and why the brand vision is so enormously strong.

One thing is for sure — there is no way anyone can enter the MMA space and be seen as a legitimate promoter in America. When the powers-that-be at Endeavor say that they want to take WWE to where UFC is, what they really mean is a complete single-promotion monopoly of an entertainment and sports sector.

I saw that vision unfolding with UFC 306 at The Sphere.

What the fans saw with UFC 306 was Endeavor producing a movie. What we got from Dana White’s post-fight UFC 306 presser was the director’s cut instructing us on what Endeavor’s grand business plans are and how they will utilize what they learned in promoting a show at The Sphere to make tens of millions of dollars in the future in government contracts — on the taxpayer’s dime.