UFC 306 was a monumental night in Las Vegas. Held under the roof of the technological marvel that is ‘The Sphere’, the event soared beyond expectations, shattering previous records. But while the numbers painted a glowing picture, not all fans are in agreement about its success. According to a recent post on Instagram shared by MMA Fighting, “First and foremost, UFC 306 produced a $22 million live gate which smashed the previous record at $17.7 million when UFC 205 landed at Madison Square Garden in New York…”

That wasn’t all! The report further shared, “UFC 306 also served as the highest-grossing single event held at Sphere since the massive $2.3 billion arena first opened in 2023. Meanwhile, UFC 306 also produced the highest grossing sponsorship sales for the company…”

Yet, despite all the glittering success, the fandom felt the excitement in the Octagon didn’t quite live up to the hype built by UFC CEO Dana White! What had he promised? According to a statement made on ‘Club Shay Shay’ with Shannon Sharpe before the event, the UFC boss had claimed, “This will never be replicated…This thing is going to be, you know, and again, if you are Mexican and you are on this, it’s just going to be like nothing anybody’s ever seen before.”

However, the fan responses on social media indicate that there were many factors that may have dimmed the glow of UFC 306 in their minds. Here’s a look at what the community had to say.

Fans fire off against Dana White as UFC 306 fails to make an impression despite record-breaking success

One of the primary factors that soured fans on UFC 306 was the ticket prices for the event. The lowest prices being offered were close to $3000 at one point. However, due to lackluster ticket sales, the UFC and Dana White were forced to slash them down to around $1000 dollars to ensure sales. If compared with the recent UFC 309 tickets for Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic at Madison Square Garden, the lowest tickets have been reported to be priced at $610, which is lower than those for ‘The Sphere’.

“Of course it’s the highest grossing UFC when the nosebleeds were 5x a regular UFC”

Another reason behind the seemingly negative perception on the UFC 306 card for the fans was its comparison to the event it de-throned for the highest live gate record, UFC 205. After all, that was the night when we saw Conor McGregor become the first ‘champ-champ’ by knocking out Eddie Alvarez. But the action didn’t stop there as there were two more title fights on the card!

“UFC 205 was still better and iconic”

Others brought up the fact that the card was lacking in ‘star-power’ when compared to the upcoming UFC 307 card. Featuring a light-heavyweight title clash between Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree Jr., the event will go down at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The co-main is a women’s bantamweight title fight between Raquel Pennington and Julianna Pena. The card also boasts names like Kayla Harrison, Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson, and the ‘King of Rio’ Jose Aldo.

“Imagine if it was a stacked card like 307 they’d make so much more”

And even though the ‘Sphere’ featured massive production values and a few incredible performances, the fans still weren’t happy with the event in general.

“And biggest let down”

Another overlooked metric for the success of the card was mentioned by one fan who pointed out that PPV numbers haven’t been revealed in the report shared by MMA Fighting. While the attendance and ticket sales for ‘The Sphere’ were indeed impressive, the current PPV record is held by UFC 229 where Conor McGregor faced off against Khabib Nurmagomedov. The result? 2,400,000 PPV buys for a reported $180 million!

“So how about PPVs where the fans would count. Of course you’re going to have record attendance since tickets were 4 figures”

In the end, there’s no denying UFC 306’s success from a business standpoint. But in the world of MMA, money isn’t always everything. Dana White’s bold venture might have broken records, but the fan reactions indicate that the card didn’t exactly leave a mark in the minds of the MMA sphere. What do you think? Was it the ticket prices or the fights that left the fans wanting more? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!