Israel Adesanya's live reaction to Brian Ortega's Noche UFC fate, reaction to Merab Dvalishvili's "dream come true" moment
Like after every pay-per-view, Israel Adesanya shared his live reaction to Noche UFC on his YouTube channel after Saturday night's extravaganza at The Sphere. The high-tech venue in Las Vegas hosted UFC 306: Riyadh Season Noche UFC on Sept. 15, an event that celebrated Mexican Independence Day paying an incredible tribute to the country's history, culture, and heritage.
In the main event of the night, Sean O'Malley put his bantamweight title on the line against Merab Dvalishvili and came up short as 'The Machine' secured a decision win to become the new champion.
The co-main event saw the women's 125-pound belt change hands as well. Valentina Shevchenko finally defeated Alexa Grasso in a historic first-ever women's trilogy fight in the UFC and reclaimed her flyweight crown.
In the third fight of the main card, Diego Lopes took on Brian Ortega in a rebooking of their previously scheduled fight that had fallen through because of Ortega's sickness. The former title challenger got viscerally pieced up by Lopes in the three-round battle and left the octagon with bloody cuts and bruises scarring his face.
Watching the fight live, Adesanya could not help but animatedly squirm as Lopes dished out punishment to 'T-City':
"Damn! Diego one of them ones! [Screams] He f***ing folded him! [Laughs] F***ing laundry day, Jesus! This dude, bro."
Later on in the video, he also reacted to the O'Malley vs. Dvalishvili fight and the spectacle at The Sphere:
"Dreams come true, man. No matter what, dreams come true... Merab's performance was pretty much flawless. What I thought he wouldn't do, which is keep O'Malley down - he couldn't too much in some rounds - but he just kept on taking him down and beat him up."
"From the couch, I could see that if you were in The Sphere, it would be a hundred times better. I definitely wish I was there."
Watch Israel Adesanya's reaction to Lopes vs. Ortega (6:25) and comments on O'Mally vs. Dvalishvili () below:
Dana White slams Noche UFC main and co-main event
While the visuals and overall ambiance of The Sphere earned accolades across the MMA community, the headliners failed to grab as many eyeballs. Dana White himself was disappointed with the headlining performances, according to his statement at the post-Noche UFC press conference.
When a reporter asked White to comment about Alexa Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko "su**ing the air out of the room" with their title fight, the UFC CEO said:
"You can put on $20 million worth of production, but you can't control the fights. They're going to be what they are. So I cannot let that drive me crazy. ... Our fanbase grew 69% during COVID. Some people probably tuned in for the first time, hopefully, they turned off before the co-main event."
Answering if he was disappointed with the Noche UFC main event, White commented:
"He looked flat. He didn't look sharp. He didn't look crisp until the last round."
Catch up with Dana White's full Noche UFC press conference below: