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French-Canadian Broadcast Supposedly Leaks UFC 306 Title Fights For Sphere Debut

Let the unofficial hype for "Riyadh Season Noche UFC" begin.

Zain Bando

(Zuffa LLC)

There are exactly 62 days until Riyadh Season Noche UFC, also known as UFC 306, from the MSG Sphere in Las Vegas. Although the UFC has not formally announced any bouts, the TVA Sports production and commentary team was caught in a blunder when two fights were leaked out during the UFC Denver broadcast Saturday night.

The "X" account MMA_Matchmaker (via Championship Rounds) was first to catch wind of the tiny, yet significant nugget, as the video revealed two title fights that had been rumbling across the MMA community for quite some time .

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Although the order of the fights is unknown, the video unofficially announced Sean O'Malley's (18-1, 1 NC, 10-1, 1 NC UFC) second defense against long-time top contender and Aljamain Sterling's protégé Merab Dvalishvili (17-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC) for the bantamweight title. Dvalishvili has won 10 straight fights, including his title-shot-clinching performance against former two-division champion Henry Cejudo in February.

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The other half of the announcement will feature the recently minted featherweight champion, Ilia Topuria (15-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC), who won the belt in February with a second-round KO of Alexander Volkanovski (26-4 MMA, 13-3 UFC), who held it for over four years, take on Max Holloway (26-7 MMA, 22-7 UFC) who is coming off a hellacious fifth-round KO against Justin Gaethje to capture the BMF title at UFC 300 in April.

Assuming the UFC eventually confirms them, neither of these fights should come as a surprise as potential headliners. There are several unknowns regarding the new Conor McGregor vs. Michael Chandler fight date. The welterweight title is being contested in 13 days. The middleweight title fight is nearly a month away, and Alex Pereira has already defended his light heavyweight title on two different occasions thus far this year—UFC 300 and UFC 303.

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At press time, tickets have yet to officially go on sale, but expect to pay a high premium considering that the event is the first, and potentially only combat sports event, that will take place at the MSG Sphere.

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Zain Bando

ZAIN BANDO

Zain Bando is a writer for MMA Knockout, part of the Sports Illustrated/Minute Media umbrella. He has covered combat sports since 2019 for notable outlets BJPenn.com and FanSided MMA. He also co-hosts a podcast called "The MMA Outsiders," part of the Empty The Bench Podcast Network, which airs Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT. A Chicago suburban native, Bando has been enthralled with MMA since 2006 and has been fortunate to attend some of the most high-profile events in the sport's history, both as a fan and media member, including UFC 264, Bellator 297 and Kayla Harrison's PFL MMA debut. He is excited to take the next step in his combat sports writing journey and looks forward to continuing his following of the fight game for years to come. Bando can be reached via email at zainbando99@gmail.com or by social media @zainbando99

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