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Marc Raimondi, ESPN Staff Writer
The UFC held its first event celebrating Mexican Independence Day back in September. The sequel promises to be even bigger.
UFC CEO Dana White told reporters Saturday night that the promotion has booked the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas for Sept. 14, 2024, and will host a fight card honoring Mexican Independence weekend. The holiday falls on Sept. 16.
The Sphere, a $2.3 billion venue, opened Sept. 29 and can hold more than 18,000 people. There has not yet been a combat sports event in the building, though the production value of concerts — with giant video walls stretching high above the stage — has gone viral on social media. So has the exterior of the globe-like arena, which is a 16K, 160,000-square-foot LED screen.
“It’s going to be a massive challenge, and I love every minute of it,” White said Saturday following UFC 295. “I can’t wait to dive into this thing.”
Noche UFC, the promotion’s Mexican Independence show held Sept. 16 at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena, was considered a major success internally. The attendance was 18,766 for a $2.26 million paid gate. Alexa Grasso, the UFC’s first Mexican-born women’s champion, defended the UFC women’s flyweight title against Valentina Shevchenko in the headliner.
White promised the 2024 edition at the MSG Sphere will be “the greatest live combat sports show anybody has ever seen.”
“Everybody keeps saying to me, ‘I don’t understand how you’re going to put the Octagon in there, I don’t understand how you’re going to do this, I don’t understand how you’re going to do that,'” White said. “Remember that I said this to you tonight.”