Dana White reveals his favorite UFC moment from 2024 – and it's not UFC 300 or Jon Jones' comeback
12/17/2024 10:50 AM
2024 has been yet another stellar year for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but what was your favorite moment from the past 12 months?
Was it Jon 'Bones' Jones' iconic comeback at UFC 309, or perhaps it was Max Holloway's insane last-second knockout over Justin Gaethje – well, neither of those two moments are front and center for the man at the top of the promotion.
Dana White reveals his favorite UFC moment of 2024
From breaking countless arena records to putting on some of the best fights that we've ever seen in the octagon; it's safe to assume that 2024 has been an outstanding year for the UFC.
Speaking on First Take, via the ESPN MMA YouTube channel, UFC CEO Dana White revealed his personal favorite moment of the year – and surprisingly, he didn't mention either Jones, Holloway, or even UFC 300.
"Without a doubt, it had to be The Sphere – pulling off The Sphere [for UFC 306]," stated White, who was keen to acknowledge that the Las Vegas showstopper will go down in history as one of the most visually stunning events in all of sports, combat or otherwise.
"I thought when we did The Sphere, people would be flocking there to try to do it – I don't think anybody is ever going to do it, I don't think that anybody is ever going to replicate what we did there that night.
"If the production team here at UFC doesn't win every single award there is in television, then the awards are BS."
Whilst UFC 306: O'Malley vs Dvalishvili at The Sphere was indeed an outstanding show, with a whopping $20 million budget, the promotion is unlikely to ever host a PPV of that size and magnitude again.
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"That was a one-and-done [event]… I mean, I just went to The Eagles, which is an incredible show, the stuff that they did on the screen aligned with the music really well but if you look at [what we did], it's not even comparable."
UFC 306 reportedly generated over $21.8 million in ticket receipts, making it the largest gate in UFC history; the event also holds the record for VIP experience sales, merchandise sales, ticket sales for The Sphere, and sponsorship revenue.
"This has been a record year for us again, not just in terms of financially for the company but [for] breaking arena records," continued White, who then shared why 2025 is going to be even better.
"Next year my focus is to go to a lot of places that we haven't been to in a while or ever [been before].
"We're trying to get into Spain next year – we've never done Spain – we're going back to LA at the beginning of the year, we're going to Seattle again and probably going to hit up Chicago and some of these places we haven't been in a while."
What's Dana White's all-time favorite moment from the UFC history books?
In an interview with GQ Magazine in 2022, White was asked what his personal 'most satisfying' finish was in UFC history – and unsurprisingly, he named one of Tito Ortiz's most brutal losses.
"When Chuck Liddell knocked Tito Ortiz out – that was my favorite, favorite moment that has ever happened in UFC history."
White has a storied past with Ortiz, initially working as his promoter before he joined the UFC as an executive; with their relationship turning sour after an infamous scuffle on board a private jet.
"We were on a private plane on our way to Japan and it was my partners, the Fertitta brothers, myself, Tito Ortiz and our matchmaker at the time, Joe Silva," White told Conan O'Brien in 2017.
"Tito and I were messing around and he put me in what's called a neck crank, I was tapping and he didn't stop. You can seriously hurt somebody in a neck crank, especially as big and strong as Tito is.
"So I just started blasting him in the ribs, started punching him in the ribs and when he let go [I] just jumped up and it was just a full-blown fist fight in the plane… We were literally taking off and the plane was [wobbling] and the Fertitta brothers had to jump in and break up the fight."
White didn't mention when this scuffle took place, but we imagine that it'll take something truly special for Liddell's knockout to be toppled as his number-one favorite all-time UFC moment.
