Ahead of the UFC’s debut at the Sphere, the organization’s CCO and Executive Producer Craig Borsari says he’s equal parts excited and incredibly stressed.
On September 14 — Mexican Independence Day — the UFC will broadcast UFC 306 from the Sphere in Las Vegas, an event that UFC President and CEO Dana White has talked about for months and promised will be the greatest sporting event of all time.
While that’s a high bar to clear, pushing boundaries is nothing new for the UFC, and they are consistently seeking out challenges. When the potential to run a show at the Sphere presented itself, it offered a new challenge and tons of opportunities for how to approach putting on an event visually.
“I tell (my team) to really push the envelope and look for things out there,” Borsari tells Uproxx Sports. “Don’t get complacent that this is the way we’ve always done it and this is the way we’re going to continue to do it. I think when you do that, things start to get stale.”
While the very formation of the UFC was a test in itself, Borsari points to the organization’s utilization of cameras, angles, graphics, exploring new technology, and new venues as ways they’re constantly looking to innovate. In order to fulfill their latest test, White set the tone for what the UFC wanted to accomplish and empowered Borsari to build a super team.
“I’m a big believer that if you don’t assemble a team that is world class, you’re just going to either fall short, you’re going to be disappointed, or both,” Borsari says. “So I really started off by thinking I’m going to play a bit of the role of a general manager of a sports team and I’m just going to go draft the best players I can on the planet.”
Borsari pulled together the best of the best across all walks of entertainment, with talented producers, segment directors, composers, and more to build an experience that is guaranteed to be unlike anything we’ve seen before. In total, the team of creatives has a collective experience of wins across the Emmys, Golden Globes, and the Grammy Awards. They’ve played a part in producing the Super Bowl halftime show, worked on Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, took part in developing some of your favorite animated movies, and most recently they’re creating an immersive visual experience as the backdrop for a milestone UFC event.
“We just went to the absolute best of the best, just best in class in every area that we needed to assemble,” Borsari says. “Everybody that we wanted both was available and excited about the challenge. So we had immediately, not just skilled folks coming in, wildly talented with all the right experience, but the same mindset to dig into something that’s never been done before and work their butt off to get it done. And it’s been a tremendously rewarding experience thus far.”
Borsari and team have discussed and considered every intricate detail in the months leading up to this event. Back in May, they built the Octagon on the floor of the Sphere and walked the venue to figure out sight lines, making sure they had the cage at just the right angle without it being too close to the screen or too far from a prime lighting location.
The Octagon typically features a lighting grid 32 feet above the cage with audio, cameras, and microphones, offering another logistical challenge in the Sphere environment. In order to take advantage of the space, that structure won’t be featured, rather they’re building a system unique to the space to light the Octagon from behind the massive LED media plane. Lighting is just one of many considerations the team took into account in the months it’s required to create the ideal setup.
Likely the biggest takeaway from the experience of UFC 306, however, will be the thoughtfulness in storytelling.
“Typically for a normal pay per view event, we don’t tell any secondary story outside of giving you the story about the fighters and this matchup that you’re about to see,” Borsari says.
At UFC 306, the team will lean into the Mexican culture, the fighting spirit, and Mexico’s history as a backdrop to the fight card, with “movies” playing in between fights before the fighters take center stage.
“These short films, or what we’re calling these worlds or environments that the fights take place in, there’s tremendous amount of detail that goes into all of these, literally every frame of every asset we’re going to be displaying,” he says. “I wish we could do this 50 times so people could pick up all of the details. Unfortunately, it’s just once. That’s another thing I think that sets it apart as just an event that really has never been executed before.”
Whether the UFC actually runs the venue just once remains to be seen. Borsari won’t exactly slam the door on the notion that maybe it could be done again.
“Dana’s been saying it’s a one and done deal, which is probably good for my family life. But he’s also said, ‘Hey, let’s get through this one first and we can take a deep breath and reassess.’ I mean, the intention is that this is kind of a unique situation at the right time, the right place for us to pull this off. We are just wildly focused on September 14th right now. And then we’ll deal with the future later,” Borsari says.
Under the TKO umbrella, Borsari talks quite a bit with his WWE counterpart, the head of media and production, Lee Fitting as the two companies navigate the changing media landscape.
As WWE embarks on bringing WrestleMania 41 to Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas next April, Borsari says Fitting is “aware of what we’re tasked with over here” when asked if there have been any learnings the UFC can share from running the Sphere with WWE.
“As we get closer, there might be some things that we’re doing over here, we’ve done leading up to the Sphere that might be applicable for what they’re doing.” Borsari continues. “He’s got a massive event on his hands as well that he’s approaching and I know he’s way out in front of it and I’m sure it’s going to be incredible.”
For now, all eyes are on Saturday, where Borsari says he feels “incredibly fortunate” that White provided the space, overarching creative vision, and the resources to make UFC 306 one for the ages.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I’m scratching my head to try to think of another opportunity that’s going to be remotely close to this going forward,” Borsari says. “I’m sure something will pop up. I don’t know when, but it’s going to take a long time to match it.”