UFC 306 promised us an MMA event in which the venue itself was the star. The technological marvel of the Las Vegas Sphere helped make that possible. But then so did the headlining fighters themselves, who did enough to win without ever doing so much that they threatened to steal the spotlight.
In the main event, Merab Dvalishvili out-grappled and outpointed Sean O’Malley to become the new UFC men’s bantamweight champion. And in the co-main, Valentina Shevchenko regained the women’s flyweight title she held for nearly five consecutive years, finally getting her revenge against Alexa Grasso via unanimous decision.