Dana White on significance of Noche UFC and Sean O’Malley’s stardom | First Take

no UFC is Saturday at The Spar in Las Vegas highlighted by two title fights the main card begins at 10 Eastern on pay-per-view prelims 7:30 Eastern on ESPN news ESPN portes ESPN plus to order the main card in English and Spanish go to ESPN plus.com Pay-per-view on that note it's great to be joined Now by UFC president and CEO the one and only Dana White who's reverse aging Dana so good to see you good morning good to be here good to see you you too uh no UFC at the sphere unreal how did you even make this happen you put 20 million I heard into this yeah so I Brady actually hit me up uh during the week and said you want to go see the uh YouTu concert at the sphere yeah this weekend so I went had I not gone with him to see this I probably wouldn't have been to the sphere yet and I was literally sitting there that night and the experience is incredible and I'm like I'm going to do the first reporting event here so I called Craig borsari our head of production and said I don't know what you're doing next weekend but cancel it you and the team got to come down here and and he the best he the best you got to uh you guys got to come here and and and and walk through this and I want to do an event here and originally we sorry you know we do a regular events two and a half million bucks so his budget was 8 million for this one we're 20 million in now uh going into Saturday and why to this highlight for Tom Brady inspired him with that's one part of it all but talk to me about why this was so important to you and you wanted to do this what is it about the feere that makes this so special so as I was sitting in there watching first of all if you haven't experienced this spere there's nothing like it you've never experienced anything like this in your life before and while we were watching YouTube we were up in in Jim Dolan's box and and I'm watching this thing and I'm like the sphere is the star of the show the sphere is the star you listen to the music and you're watching the images and every once in a while you look over and look at you two and I'm like this would be fascinating to pull off a sporting event person everybody was saying it couldn't be done which I love right out the gate right number one number two this is where sports and entertainment truly come together for the first time ever and I think that this is a groundbreaking event in the fact that other leagues will look at this like when you go to an NBA game yeah uh you know at halftime the mascot comes out and dunks balls off a trampoline you got guys juggling you know I think as these they start to build these arenas that that are popping up everywhere or refurbish the old Arenas you start thinking about the technology of the LED screens and all the things that could be possible and I I I think this is a groundbreaking event on Saturday go ahead Shannon Danny Danny you said something very interesting normally people have an events and they want their event to be the star of the show you said the sphere is the star of the show and you're okay with that what makes what's going to make this such a unique experience something the world has never ever witnessed before so here's what we're challenged with a great question as usual uh so we are going to put on this this unbelievable entertainment event there's a movie that's going to run in the sphere right and there are chapters to this movie so before each fight is a movie and you will be focused on the sphere in the screen then the then the fighters will walk out and hopefully what we're what we're hoping is then the fight is the star of the show when that's over there will be another movie then a fight and this basically this movie that I'm talking about in these chapters will tell the history of Combat Sports in Mexico the history of the Mexican people their Traditions it is what I call the love letter to Mexico yeah it's also Mexican Independence Day I didn't mention that as well but yeah all the storytelling built in and all the visuals I have to ask you about sha Al cuz this Brother's Something Special um if you going to have a m if you're going to have an event like this you need a big name talk to me about him how big of a name he is how much does he mean to the UFC at this particular moment in time since he is the main event yeah he's become a big star for us uh he's he's one of these kids that's great to deal with he gets it he gets the business um and the great thing about this fight is you have the the number one one guy in the world and mor Rob taking on the champ shano Ali literally the best fight that you could possibly put on in that division yeah a lot of ko highlight reils from that guy and you talk about knowing the business social media he's he's tremendous as to sorry I stepped on you Shannon go ahead go ahead go ahead no I was going to ask Dana when you put on an event like this Dana you want fights to end you don't want them to go to the scorecards I know that irks you a lot I've heard you say it time and time again we have fight these fights were boring when they go to decisions what is your expectations of the fighters because when you put cars together you want the fans that's in attendance you want the people that's pay-per-view you want them to be Entertain You Want fights to end in stoppage or submission well you listen I I can control normally when we're going into an event I can control all the bells and whistles what makes this weekend very unique is I'm not going to know what works and what doesn't work until Saturday night when the show is over exactly then it's too late and this is a oneand done so um I can't control what happens in the Octagon we we always matchmake to try to make the best fights possible um and it's not that I don't like fights going to decision the fights that go to decision that are great fights are are are unbelievable they're just as good as a knockout or submission but that is all out of my control that night um we we do our thing in in matchmaking and and then I do the bells and whistles and once that cage door closes it's up to the fighters in a perfect world for me if this thing goes off the way that that that I want it to on Saturday night I think that we could repackage this and this could stay at the sphere and and be a show that people could come in and see for the rest of the year Dana let me ask you this question because you've been obviously over the UFC for ages now you've been doing a great job what is the greatest UFC event you've ever been a part of and you've been a part of all question no that's a that's a good question you know you have to take there's different uh markers for this I would say you know Conor McGregor events are always big and ton of tons of energy and fun um UFC 3 that we just did that that that ended up being this massive Monumental event for us and I have to imagine that this Saturday night is going to go in the books is one of the greatest nights of my life Dana let me ask you this though before we let you roll I know you're a Boston guy originally people forget that huge Patriots were you shocked by the win over the Cincinnati Bengals I mean people have them projected to go to the Super Bowl yeah no it's awesome um you know the fact that these guys went in their they were like eight and a half uh you know Point underdogs yeah was it was incredible I'm happy and uh yeah I love it unfortunately I was on a playing flying here and didn't get to see the game but a little more optimistic about your season now 100% 100% listen I'm so good being a Patriots fan we we've won you know all the AFC championships the Super Bowls everything we've done I'm good I was getting ready to ask you how hard is it to be a Patriots fan considering the fact this ain't the days of Tom Brady now hasn't been at least the last four years I can't complain I mean both of my my my my sons are 22 and 23 all we knew was winning their whole life all they knew was winning we had so many great uh memories and times D votes out every year I mean you they got the Boston Celtics this year it's ban it's Banner Town true do you know how good it is to be a Boston fan it is the greatest thing in life to be a Boston fan up yeah try being a giant F I screw up there being from Connecticut I should I should have went up north go ahead Jay and then we'll roll hey he Dana I wanted to ask Dan This Dana after spending 20 plus years in heaven a couple years in hell isn't quite as bad as it once would have been you look at what you guys accomplished with the Red Sox with the Patriots you cannot complain if you never win another game in Boston no sports team win another game you good bro you real good could not agree with you more it it has been an awesome run all right Dana doing something that's never been done the UFC at the sphere love it always pushing the envelope Dana you don't stop thank you so much for being with us [Applause] [Music]