It’s almost time for Noche UFC at UFC 306 inside the Las Vegas Sphere this Saturday night.

The PPV event has two big highly-anticipated title fights that will cap off the night with intriguing stylistic clashes and rivalries. First, UFC flyweight champion Alexa Grasso will look to put the all-time great Valentina Shevchenko behind her once and for all in their trilogy. Afterward, bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley battles “The Machine” Merab Dvalishvili in hopes of snapping the record-longest winning streak in divisional history (10).

However, the biggest attraction of this year’s Noche UFC is justifiably the venue where it’s taking place, the world-famous entertainment spectacle that is the Sphere.

The event has been unprecedentedly expensive for the promotion, exceeding a cost of $20 million, and UFC CEO Dana White has coined it as a one-of-one experience. All that comes with pulling off this show has brought many unknowns, and the UFC boss admits there’s no real way to know if it works to put fights in the venue until it’s all said and done.

“We don’t know. We won’t know until late Saturday night,” White told Grind City Media (h/t MMA Mania). “You know, I won’t do outdoor arenas because of wind, bugs, rain, and lots of other things that can happen. This is still a controlled environment where on Sept. 14, 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.”

Fans and pundits alike are reluctant to believe White when he says UFC will be one and done in the Sphere, especially if it’s a massive success. It wouldn’t be the first time we heard similar claims made, looking back as recently as the BMF title which wasn’t supposed to re-appear after UFC 244 in Nov. 2019. The title has been featured in two fights since.

Ultimately, a Sphere event is significantly more expensive to pull off than just a made-up “gimmick” title. So, that alone makes it much more likely to ring true. Whether or not it delivers in every sense imagined will be crafted to perfection beforehand, claims White.

“We’re gonna rehearse the sh*t 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.”

O’Malley’s defense against Dvalishvili will be his second since he won the title in August of last year against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292. He defended in a rematch against Marlon “Chito” Vera, winning a unanimous decision at UFC 299 in May. As for Grasso, her rematch against Shevchenko was her first and only title defense, which ended via a majority draw at last year’s Noche UFC.

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TOP STORIES

Rivals. Valentina Shevchenko: ‘Everyone knows’ I beat Alexa Grasso in rematch ahead of trilogy at UFC 306

Respect. Dana White reacts to Demetrious Johnson retiring from MMA: ‘Absolutely’ a UFC Hall of Famer’

Rush. Merab Dvalishvili slams Umar Nurmagomedov’s fast rise to title contention: ‘He got pushed because he’s Khabib’s cousin’

Confidence. Sean Brady calls Colby Covington ‘the easiest matchup’ at welterweight: ‘I will murder him’

Nope. Belal Muhammad not interested in Conor McGregor title fight: ‘The dude doesn’t look good in life right now’

$$$. Bellator San Diego salaries: Usman Nurmagomedov, Lorenz Larkin lead all fighters

Injury. Rayanne dos Santos fractures arm, out of UFC Vegas 99 fight with Alice Ardelean

Extra. UFC Vegas 97 bonuses: Natalia Silva, Jessica Andrade get $50K each for barnburner

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LET’S WATCH

UFC Vegas 97 Post Show.

MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck chats with Valentina Shevchenko.

MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Jed Meshew react to Demetrious Johnson's retirement.

UFC 306 - Noche UFC Countdown.

Bad blood.

Hispanic Fighter Marathon.

UFC 306 Preview.

O’Malley doc.

Full fights.

UFC Vegas 97 highlights.

Bellator San Diego highlights.

GOAT.

Ortega vs. Lopes C3 breakdown.

Bisping’s bottom five.

Fancy Darce defense.

An almighty triathlon.

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MORNING MUSIC

Go to Twitter, use the #MorningReport hashtag, or find one of my tweets with it, and drop me a jam you’re currently really into. I’ll pick the best one alongside my daily choice and give you a shoutout! You can also share in the comments below — those are just harder to sift through sometimes!

This month’s full playlist:

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SOCIAL SCROLL DOWN

There it is.

Legend.

New nickname.

Hilarious.

Throwbacks.

Machi wins.

Wowza.

He’s so talented.

Accurate or troll? Maybe both?

This actually happened.

Challenge accepted.

Response.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Morgan Charrière (19-10-1) vs. Gabriel Miranda (17-6); UFC Paris, Sept. 28

Juan Archuleta (29-6) vs. Razhabali Shaidulloev (10-0); RIZIN 48, Sept. 29

Tim Means (33-16-1, 1 NC) vs. Court McGee (21-13); UFC 307, Oct. 5

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FINAL THOUGHTS

I’m still largely perplexed by this entire show on Saturday, as we all should be. It feels like it will be the most wildly absurd way to present a fighting event but maybe it will be the most magical thing we’ve ever seen. That’s the whole allure, right?

Thanks for reading!

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POLL POSITION

Last Week’s Results:

Friday: 68% of 365 total votes answered "Yes" when asked, "Does Jake Paul vs. Mike Tyson end by knockout?"

Thursday: 89% of 410 total votes answered "Heavyweight" when asked, "Would you rather see Alex Pereira back at middleweight or up at heavyweight?"

Wednesday: 45% of 394 total votes answered "Gilbert Burns and Jessica Andrade" when asked, "Who wins this weekend?" Sean Brady defeated Burns via unanimous decision in UFC Vegas 97's main event and Natalia Silva defeated Andrade via unanimous decision in UFC Vegas 97's co-main event.

Tuesday: 55% of 252 total votes answered "Eddie Hall" when asked, "Who would you rather see Tyron Woodley take on?"

Today’s exit poll:

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If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @DrakeRiggs_ on Twitter and let him know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Instagram and like us on Facebook.