A 10-fight card at UFC 306 in Las Vegas, Nevada, was headlined by Sphere — the dynamic venue that hosted its first live sporting event on Saturday. Two title fights took center stage, with Merab Dvalishvili and Valentina Shevchenko emerging victorious. Outside of the title fights, other stars including Diego Lopes and Esteban Ribovics also had stellar performances. To make sense of it all, Andreas Hale, Brett Okamoto and Jeff Wagenheim give their final thoughts on a historic night.

The Machine Changes the Algorithm vs. ‘Suga’ Sean

Wagenheim: Dvalishvili did what Dvalishvili does. And just as importantly, he didn’t allow Sean O’Malley to do what he does.

This is how the classic battle between striker and grappler is decided, right?

In dominating the UFC 306 main event to take the bantamweight title from “Suga” Sean, Dvalishvili landed a below-average six takedowns for him. He leads the UFC with 86 takedowns in his 13 outings inside the Octagon, and he’s had four fights where he’s landed double-digit takedowns. But make no mistake: His takedown prowess is what made him a champion.

O’Malley fended off nine takedown attempts, and to do that, he had to focus on staying in position to fend off Dvalishvili’s aggression. That put O’Malley on the defensive the entire way. He only showed brief glimpses of the dangerous punches that had gotten him where he was. So even when Dvalishvili was thwarted in his takedown attempts, he remained in control of how the fight was fought.

As a result, the wrestler outdid even the striker. Dvalishvili threw 310 strikes, more than three times O’Malley’s offensive output (91), and outscored him by 214 to only 49. Although many of the challenger’s punches and kicks merely landed on O’Malley without causing much damage, they kept the champion busy defending himself and trying in vain to find openings to land his offense.

Dvalishvili transformed himself from a one-dimensional fighter by being so ruthless with the takedown aspect of his game that his opponent couldn’t exploit any deficiencies in his standup. Will the new champion be able to do that as he begins his reign, especially if he faces a more versatile challenger? We’ll find out.

‘Bullet’ keeps it basic to dethrone Grasso

Happy: Shevchenko figured out how to beat Alexa Grasso, and that required keeping her fight strategy as simple as possible. She played to her strengths by grounding Grasso for all five rounds — eight takedowns in all — and maintained control for more than 16 minutes. It wasn’t exactly entertaining, but it did the trick as Shevchenko ended her 18-month nightmare of not holding the title.

At 36, Shevchenko is fighting Father Time as hard as her opponents, but she may have remembered that she can neutralize her opponent by relying on her exceptional wrestling. Perhaps the days of highlight-reel knockouts and all-out brawling are behind Shevchenko, but Grasso had no idea how to decipher her rinse-and-repeat strategy. Does that say more about Shevchenko’s overall ability or Grasso’s inability to adapt?

Will the UFC rush to schedule a fourth Grasso-Shevchenko fight? Probably not. At least not at this point. Certainly not with the dominant performance Shevchenko put on at Noche UFC. Like Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno before them, there will almost certainly be at least one other opponent for each before they meet again.

A few worthy contenders are lining up for their chance to challenge for the title. Manon Fiorot is likely next, with the winner of November’s clash between Erin Blanchfield and Rose Namajunas waiting in the wings. Maycee Barber is also slowly climbing the ladder. Grasso may be forced to face one of these four opponents before she can attempt to reclaim her championship.

As for Shevchenko, she’ll be looking to improve on her record of title defenses and reclaim her spot on the Mount Rushmore of women’s MMA. It’s just that at this point in her career, we may be seeing a more measured and tactical version of Shevchenko. Make no mistake, Shevchenko’s win over Grasso may not have blown your mind, but we’re still witnessing greatness.

The experience within Sphere was…

Okay, okay? An absolute, undeniable, detail-by-detail home run. It’s one of the best things the UFC has done in its nearly 31-year history.

The sphere itself is just so incredible versatile. Its capabilities are unlike any venue I’ve ever been to. UFC CEO Dana White has historically hated stadium shows because he prioritizes the fan experience and worries that stadium shows compromise the in-building experience. And he’s right. Sphere is built for an in-building experience. It’s built so that it’s impossible to not have a good in-house experience no matter what you see or where you sit because the screen itself is mind-boggling. The UFC embraced that and used it to what seemed to be its full capacity.

Every time the novelty of the screen’s size wore off even a little, the entire environment changed — flower petals fell from the sky or a giant Mexican flag took over the entire projection. It was a perfect balance of realism and “video game” feel. The acoustics for the show were better than any UFC event I’ve ever been to. The UFC is in the business of promoting fights, so you expect someone like White to talk in hyperbole — but he promised an event unlike any other. The overall feeling as we walked out of Saturday night was that he delivered. There’s nothing to compare it to, because Noche UFC was so unique.

The experience of watching Sphere at home was…

Wagenheim: I guess you had to be there. Sure, there were moments of great visuals on the televised show throughout the night, especially when the main card started. But those otherworldly moments came between fights, when fans are usually impatient to get going and move on to the next fight.

As the night wore on, the visuals shook the consciousness, but no more than the rock concerts that took place in Sphere’s first year. And while visual scenes add an enhancement that perfectly suits a concert, during the fight card they were mostly an experience in themselves. Once the fists started flying, the surroundings essentially faded into the background.

And was it necessary to be so self-aggrandizing? The early-night footage often led to a “Noche UFC” logo taking center stage. And the broadcast began with everyone on camera raving about how this was going to be, in Dana White’s words, “the greatest sporting event anyone has ever seen.” Overdoing it?

The TV experience was by no means a failure. But we didn’t get anything as memorable as what the people who paid big bucks to be there in person got. The UFC has always sold us that the fights were the show. And despite $20 million in production bells and whistles, that promise remained unfulfilled even on this innovative night.