IS THE SPHERE COOKED
This weekend is the long awaited and highly anticipated UFC 306: Sphere Card!!!! At a shocking coincidence…The Undisputed Super Middleweight Boxing Champion Canelo Alvarez will be fighting top prospect Edgar Berlanga…in the fight no one asked for. The fact these two MAJOR fights are going down in the same city at the same time, is a call that is head scratching to say the least and one that only someone with severe mental psychosis and neuroticism could make…
These two events will be competing for the title and right to have the premier Mexican independence day fight. A title traidiotnal held by the MEXICAN fighter Canelo; who typically fights on this date and Cinco De Mayo, until...Last Year the UFC (DANA WHITE) decided to introduce UFC Noche; a card on Mexican Independence Day, despite having virtually no Mexican Champions. Despite this, they pushed Canelo off that date to do this card that ended in controversy. Newly mexican champion Alexa Grasso engaged in a rematch with long time champion, (who she won the belt from) Valentina Shevchenko. This bout ended with a split draw for Grasso, who was given a 10-8 round 5 by one judge where the others gave it 10-9 Shevchenko, allowing her to retain the belt. At UFC 306 the will be fighting the rematch as the co-main event, the main event has been given to Mexican superstar Sean O’malley…
That’s right the man, who made from the bottoms of the Guadalajara streets, scrapping for food and protection from the cartel to the top of the UFC Food chain, SUGA Sean O’malley will be defending his belt against Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili.
As we think more and more, this Sphere card…a card dedicated to “MEXicans” competing with an undisputed Mexican boxing champion is starting to fall apart at the seams. I think the public is starting to catch onto this as UFC Sphere tickets are plummet in price. Initially on sale as $3,000 or $1,500 (*according to Dana White) to get into the door, has now gone to $757 dollars as a solid amount of initial tickets are still on sale and a majority of resale tickets are still up of sale. Whereas you compare it to Canelo Berlanga across the strip, has completely sold out and resale is $430 for the cheapest ticket on sale. To clarify I believe both will sell out as we get closer to Saturday, but is that really good enough for the UFC? Seeing as they spent north of $20 million dollars, and contacted Saudi to help finish off the financing, is selling out with tickets only $300 more than Canelo Berlanga event, a traditional boxing event a success? It seems this gamble has back fired in the UFC’s face as this has been touted as a Card For “MExican’s” in a once and a lifetime venue, is starting to price out the working class Mexicans that make up majority of Mexicans population. And this is an ongoing issue with the UFC product as a whole, a sport that got big rising in popularity amongst the working class, has now turned into the sport of the elite. This card’s success, which seems unlikely as the online backlash for the very mediocre card has succeeded in swaying opinion on it and dropping ticket prices, will be important for the future of the UFC. This play from Dana White will most likely be looked at as the moment where the UFC lost its vice grip on the fight entertainment sphere…Pun intended.
I find it telling that a Canelo card, where he is clearly (as much as I hate to say it) putting on a mediocre card in an attempt to duck David Benavidez, will most likely succeed against the UFC Sphere card that has been hyped for almost a year. There’s a shift that’s happening in not only the sports economy but the general economy as a whole, where the working class is being priced out of the matter entirely. And I don’t believe they’re gonna take it for much longer.
