Noche UFC

ABOUT THIS ENTRY

Noche UFC was a once in a lifetime event held on September 14, 2024 at Sphere Las Vegas in honor of Mexican Independance Day and the Mexican fighting spirit. This creative and technologically complex event challenged the current sports entertainment landscape and broke new ground for future UFC and Sphere events.

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

Sphere’s jaw-dropping 16K x 16K resolution LED screen wraps up, over and around the audience, creating a fully immersive visual environment. Between live MMA bouts, Noche UFC premiered an original film, For Mexico, For All Time, on Sphere’s massive plane, building a connective narrative for the event. For Mexico, For All Time was told in six 90-second chapters that focused on different periods in Mexican history and their influence on the nation’s identity. CGI “worlds” accompanied each chapter of the film, bringing audiences into ancient Mexico, through the evolution of unarmed combat, and alongside freedom fighters.

UFC’s innovative use of production technology capitalized on Sphere’s state-of-the-art audio and video capabilities. Sphere’s interior LED display plane displayed real-time statistics and fighter information to the audience, including brand new data feeds like live fighter heart rate tracking. Haptic seats delivered force feedback to fans, based on both live action in the Octagon and choreographed music cues. Multiple audio streams allowed attendees to hear the broadcast – in multiple languages – from their cellular devices.

Objective

The goal of Noche UFC was to utilize every piece of Sphere’s cutting-edge technology while using Dana White’s “A Love Letter to Mexico” message as a through line through every piece of content that was created. From UFC’s internal team members to all external partners, this message was the north star for all creative elements. UFC worked closely with Silent House Partners to convey this message, host a once in a lifetime event, and learn and understand Sphere Las Vegas in a way no other organization had before. This massively creative undertaking had to also remain true to UFC's brand, the technical and physical demands of UFC athletes and broadcast team, and the existing UFC fanbase. This required a top tier group of creative collaborators who were willing to push the limits of what seemed possible. The result was a spectacle unlike any other, Noche UFC.

Strategy & Execution

Craig Borsari and Dana White knew that the right creative partners were paramount in order to make this experience through various forms of media as powerful as possible. Silent House Group, led by executive producer Baz Halpin, were the first to join UFC and thus began the overall strategy building.

The teams first had to tackle the lighting of the octagon. In order to avoid blocking the view of the media plane, “blow through” lighting was developed and mounted behind the LED panels of the Sphere to light the fighters inside the octagon.

To tell the story of the Mexican fighting spirit, Carlos López Estrada developed a six chapter short film that played in between bouts of the main card fights. These were complimented by digital “worlds”, created by BLINK Studios, which served as extensions of each chapter and provided living backdrops during the fight action.

The Noche UFC broadcast graphics creative toolkit included a custom Noche UFC logo. The challenge was to blend inspiration from Mexico's rich pre-Hispanic cultures with a contemporary approach, merging traditional symbols with modern graphic design principles while maintaining the need for clarity and functionality in the context of a live sports broadcast.

Organizations

• UFC
• Silent House Partners
• BLINK Studios
• Antigravity Academy
• Nexus Studios
• Germaine Franco
• Q Department
• Silent Partners Studios
• Marina Toybina
• Sktch
• Proto

Featured

• Sean O' Malley
• Merab Dvalishvili
• Alexa Grasso
• Valentina Shevchenko
• Diego Lopes
• Brian Ortega
• Carlos López Estrada
• Germaine Franco
• Gael García Bernal
• Glenn Weiss
• Marina Toybina

Credits

Craig Borsari
‪Executive Vice President, Chief Content Officer & Executive Producer
UFC

Heidi Noland
Senior Vice President, Global Brand and Creative
UFC

Zachary Candito
‪EVP & Coordinating Producer, Live Event Production
UFC

Chris Kartzmark
Executive Vice President, Production and Programming
UFC

Baz Halpin
Producer
Silent House Partners

Linda Gierhan
Producer
Silent House Partners

Mark Bracco
Producer
Silent House Partners

Vincent Richards
Coordinating Producer
Silent House Partners

Tom Colbourne
Screens Content Producer
Blink

Richard Cullen
Screens Content Producer
Blink

Kristin Brown
Project Manager
Blink

Carlos López Estrada
Segments Director
Antigravity Academy

Valerie Bush
Segments Producer
Antigravity Acadaemy

Germaine Franco
Film Score Composer
Germaine Franco

JT Rooney
Creative Producer
Silent Partners Studio

Marina Toybina
Costume Designer
Marina Toybina

Jordyn Czarnomski
Experiential Producer
Sktch

David Nussbaum
Founder
Proto Hologram

Dana White
CEO
UFC