After ‘Sphere’, Dana White reveals once ‘legitimate negotiations’ with Colosseum for Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg
Dana White reveals 'legitimate talks' with Colosseum for Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg event after UFC 306 PPV event.
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Dana White had a quirky venue for Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk (Source: X/IMAGO)
The UFC closed out the annual Noche Pay-per-view promotional debut at the MGM ‘Sphere.’ UFC CEO Dana White revealed afterward that UFC was discussing hosting another monumental event. There has been serious talk of a battle between tech giants Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg for several years now. The Bossman had quite the Colosseum in mind for it.
No..the ‘real’ Colosseum. From the get-go, Dana White and his premier combat sports promotion wanted all in if this global mega-fight ever happened. For a while, it looked as if a fight between the two billionaires might actually happen. Talks seemed to die down and never materialized. After the success of this weekend’s UFC 306, White divulged he was in serious talks with the Colosseum in Rome, Italy.
The great thing about this business that I love, ...and like, me wanting to do the Sphere, some things will pop up that you didn’t expect to happen and I jump on them when they pop up...It’s probably a bad example but at one point I was talking about Elon Musk vs Mark Zuckerberg so any crazy sh*t that pops up in front of me, and I was legit negotiating with the Colosseum in Italy to do that fight...Dana White to media scrum during UFC 306 PPV post-fight conteference interviews’ H/T: bloodyelbow.com
The combat feud between Tesla/X owner Elon Musk and Zuckerberg is seemingly on a down-low and only limited to online barbs. While an MMA bout seems unlikely now, it was a big deal a while back. The Meta owner, Mark Zuckerberg, boasts relative proficiency in Jiu-Jitsu, and a fight seemed the go-to topic. Many in the UFC roster were even willing to train one or the other.
Zuckerberg also attended UFC 298 and UFC 300 PPV. Both men have shown substantial interest in combat sports, and the UFC bossman is here for it. A Sphere-crazed Dana White ponied over $20m in a hefty production price tag. So it’s not odd he’d aim for another thematic venue fight of gladiatorial proportions. Consistently enough, though, this year’s Noche was worth all the pennies.
UFC 306 Noche lives up to hype and bank, despite one-and-done event
Dana White and Co. are contractual anchor tenants at the MGM Grand Garden Arena; Madison Square Gardens Company also operates T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where UFC production hosts most PPV cards in “Sin City.” However, White, 55, lobbied strong enough to book the LV ‘Sphere’, and it was truly a one-of-a-kind event.
The weekend’s UFC 306 event broke its live gate expectations with $21,829,245. This surpasses the current live gate record lineup of UFC 205 ($17.7 million), UFC 229 ($17,188,895), and UFC 300 ($16,508,823). Roughly 1400 miles from the Mexican border, the initial price tag now seems less of a nosebleed given the 360-degree haptic experiences.
The immersive venue with its live hot tickets has now broken its live gate record and sits at a ginormous $23m! The outfitting UFC Promotional Guidelines Compliance payout for the event totaled $239,500 and the highest ever thematic merch sale. This is also the biggest-grossing sporting event ever to come out at the ‘Sphere.’
Instead of sinking millions in the concert-hall-shaped dome, White is also thinking business on books. While ‘Sphere’ is done for now, and non-PPV “Fight Night” cards go to Arena CDMX in Mexico City, he plans to bank on the 16k LED UFC 306 recordings as a media package he can monetize post-fight.
So, in essence, anyone visiting the ‘Sphere’ can binge the haptic thrill of the UFC 306 card again next week or even next month. Now that UFC has a lay of the land and has teched up, who knows? Maybe it’s Mark Zuckerberg vs. Elon Musk in a virtual reality fight at the Allegiant Stadium next.
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