It is safe to say that the UFC entrusting a third-party, Riyadh Season, to sponsor one of its events, UFC 306, for the first time ever has paid off. The 2025 Sports Emmy Awards have concluded, and the promotion has walked away with two awards after seven nominations across different creative fields. The highest-grossing UFC event ever, headlined by Sean O’Malley vs. Merab Dvalishvili, was a primary reason behind this success.

Noche UFC, also called UFC 306, took place on September 15, 2024, at the Sphere, Las Vegas and it was the first sporting event hosted at the esteemed venue. To celebrate the Mexican Independence day, chapters of the country’s history were showcased before each fight and the rings girls fit the theme perfectly thanks to their custom costumes alongside makeup.

At the 2025 Sports Emmy Awards, the one-and-done Noche UFC won for Outstanding Studio or Production Design/Art Direction by outshining the following nominees:

• FOX SOCCER on FOX
• Games of the XXXIII Olympiad by NBC & Peacock
• 2024 NHL Draft
• Super Bowl LIX on Fox

Noche UFC also won the award for Outstanding Graphic Design – Specialty. The For Mexico, For All Time immersive graphical series that contained six chapters from Mexico’s culture and history helped the promotion bag this accolade, and the other nominees were:

• In the Arena: Serena Williams by Disney+
• NBA All Star on TNT by Borg-Warner Talking Heads
• Super Bowl LIX on Fox
• 2024 NFL Draft

In case you’re yet to check out this ground-breaking series by the UFC, it is fully available on the promotion’s official website.

Apart from the two categories mentioned above, the UFC was nominated for Sports Emmy awards in the following categories against several giants of the digital sports media landscape:

• Outstanding Edited Special for UFC Year of the Fighter: Georges St-Pierre
• Outstanding Digital Innovation for Noche UFC
• Outstanding Technical Team Event for Noche UFC
• Outstanding Music Direction for UFC 306
• Outstanding Graphic Design – Event/Show for Noche UFC

As thrilled as fans would be to see the UFC make a name on bigger stages, no one will be happier than CEO Dana White. When everyone was criticizing him for pouring a score million dollars into the event without big names like Conor McGregor ever being discussed, he was sure the event would be a huge success. And boy was he right!

Dana White foreshadowed UFC 306 winning an Emmy award

Now that UFC 306 has proved to be a hit among the critics, it is interesting to look back at Dana White foreshadowing the same thing last year. On September 11, 2024, at the post-fight conference for DWCS Season 8 Week 5, White was asked why he went through all the financial and creative trouble to put on a unique sporting event in The Sphere.

While excitedly explained the sheer technological advancement of The Sphere in terms of audio, detailing, and haptics. He had a clear goal in mind as well: “So, my goal, in this thing, is to be nominated for an Oscar, an Emmy, and a Grammy. So, yes, there will be a documentary.”  It is also worth noting that the creative team for UFC 306 comprised people with several Emmy awards and Oscar nominations.

Overall, six of the seven nominations for the UFC at the 2025 Sports Emmy Awards were for the Sphere event, which is unsurprising considering it required tens of millions of dollars. White, who was very enthusiastic about the entire thing from start to end, did say that UFC 306 could be a one-time thing. But we also know that the UFC CEO is known for never saying no (look the return of the BMF belt), and the overwhelmingly positive reception received by Noche UFC can certainly incentivize him to put up similar events in the future.