UFC 306: Riyadh Season Noche preview

UFC Noche is being promoted as the most hyped event in UFC history. With two belts on the line and eight Mexican fighters on the card, It will be interesting to see how the event itself unfolds, and how the production inside of the Sphere takes place for both those live in attendance and the pay-per-view broadcast.

I am most interested in the main card, but first I want to look at Raul Rosas Jr.’s fight which will be the first of the night.

Rosas Jr. is only 19 years old and already has four fights in the UFC. His MMA record is 9-1 and is 3-1 in the UFC with two submissions and one TKO. He is undoubtedly one of the most promising prospects in the entire organization, but with this set to be his fifth fight in the UFC, he should no longer be considered a prospect.

There are plenty of other Mexican fighters on this card, and with most of them being favored and having the crowd's favor, It will be interesting to see how the underdogs fare at this event.

But looking at the main card, the two title fights and the Diego Lopes (25-6) versus Brian Ortega (16-3) fight are the ones I want to focus on in this preview.

Lopes was previously scheduled to fight Ortega at UFC 303, but Ortega was forced to withdraw from the fight due to illness on the day of. But rest assured, Lopes took care of business that night and we still get to see this fight happen at the Sphere.

Lopes is the betting favorite at roughly -175 odds depending on the sportsbook. Ortega is not to be taken lightly though, as he is the No. 3 ranked Featherweight contender. Looking at the matchup, it seems to me that Lopes has the advantage on the feet, while I would give a slight edge to Ortega’s ground game and jiu-jitsu.

For the co-main event, Mexican Flyweight Champ Alexa Grasso (16-3-1) is set to defend her belt against Valentina Shevchenko (23-4-1). This will be their third fight with one another with the first fight resulting in the belt going from Shevchenko to Grasso via a rear-naked choke.

The second fight ended in a draw, which is quite uncommon in the UFC, but set up this fight, and we will see Grasso have the crowd on her side as she attempts to retain her belt.

The other co-main event of the evening, the last fight of the night, is for the Bantamweight Title between “Sugar” Sean O’Malley (18-1) and Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (17-4).

Dvalishvili has been waiting patiently for his chance to fight for the title. In his 12 UFC fights since 2017, he has won each of the last ten, with one knockout and nine unanimous decisions.

O’Malley was signed to the UFC just eight days before Dvalishvili with his victory in the Ultimate Fighter 26 finale. Since then, in almost the same amount of time, O'Malley has earned a record of 9-1-1 (No Contest).

In my opinion, this fight could easily top the Max Holloway versus Justin Gaethje fight for best fight of the year, given the hype being built around the event and the caliber of these fighters.

Whoever wins this fight, will have a reasonable claim to move up to fight Ilia Topuria and challenge for a second belt.

I think that if O’Malley wins, he will disregard any rematch in preference to becoming a double champion. He has already defended his belt once, and he claims that outside of Dvalishvili, the Bantamweight division is in a weak state.

If Dvalishvili wins, I think he would be more open to giving O’Malley a rematch, but this is all speculation, and of course, would depend on how the fight actually transpired.

If Dvalishvili earned a dominating win via a finish or unanimous decision, it would behoove him to seek another opponent, potentially at a different weight class. But if it was a close fight like I was expecting, a rematch would make more sense.

No matter what events take place tonight, This should be an exciting event, and I hope that we can see another event in the future take place at the Sphere.

Unfortunately for us fans, Dana White has insisted that the UFC will not return to the Sphere, but it makes sense financially as this is going to be the most expensive event the organization has ever promoted.

Carson Schuler is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism, to contact him please email cts5357@psu.edu.