Should current plans come to fruition, the bantamweight gold will be on the line at the Sphere-held Noche UFC event this fall.
The promotion will stage its sophomore celebration of Mexican Independance Day on September 14. While Las Vegas is once again the host destination, the Octagon will be in much different surroundings this time around.
Instead of the T-Mobile Arena for the second straight year, the 2024 edition of Noche UFC is set to go down inside the unique Sphere venue. In the lead-up, UFC CEO Dana White has promised a spectacle like nothing seen before.
That hype initially left many predicting a stacked lineup to mark the occasion, but it seems those wishing for two blockbuster championship fights at the top of the lineup won’t be getting their wish granted…
Helwani Dismisses Talk Of Both O’Malley & Topuria Defending Titles At The Sphere
While Alexa Grasso’s second defense of the flyweight title has long been expected high up the card, there’s been considerable uncertainty when it comes to the other major matchups.
Most notably, champions Sean O’Malley and Ilia Topuria have gone back and forth with their respective expected next challengers, Merab Dvalishvili and Max Holloway, over potential Sphere battles.
Talk of both bouts taking place on September 14 picked up following comments on the official French-Canadian broadcast of this past weekend’s UFC Fight Night in Denver.
Unfortunately, it appears that one of those pairings won’t feature at the Sphere.
During a recent episode of his show, The MMA Hour, host Helwani provided an update on the UFC’s fall plans and addressed the rumors floating around regarding the Sphere-held pay-per-view.
“The plan was always the Grasso title defense…and then the plan has for some time been ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley vs. Merab,” Helwani said. “Now, both fights aren’t official just yet. They haven’t been signed. But that has been the plan.
“If they did go with that fight, then the other plan would be Ilia vs. Max most likely on the October 5 Utah card (UFC 307), which hasn’t been officially announced yet. Also on that card, we suspect, Julianna Peña vs. Raquel Pennington,” Helwani continued. “Can’t imagine they would put a Spaniard on a Noche UFC card.”
This week also saw White provide additional details on the event, revealing that the plan is for just 10 fights to take place during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show.
He also claimed the cost has already exceeded $17 million, supporting Helwani’s mention of finances as the reason why neither the possibility of Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler nor a three title fight card were entertained.
