A hologram of UFC CEO Dana White will be unveiled on Saturday night at the Las Vegas venue where the MMA icon has vowed never to stage another event again. However, this is not a conventional hologram, and the concept of a “real hologram” remains nebulous.
Digi-Dana, as the hologram has been dubbed, will make its appearance inside the Las Vegas Sphere but won’t be a permanent fixture. This ephemeral hologram was commissioned by UFC for the evening’s event, UFC 306’s 10 “Riyadh Season Noche” bouts, and will be powered down and removed immediately after.
Joining White’s hologram in the Sphere’s Aura Gallery—famous for its robots with lifelike expressions who interact with visitors—will be holograms of several UFC fighters. The gallery promises an “unprecedented selfie experience” with these life-size, volumetric 4K images, though the specific fighters featured have not been disclosed.
David Nussbaum, CEO of Proto Hologram, expressed excitement for the debut of their technology at the Sphere. “We’re absolutely fired up to see Proto holograms at the Sphere for the first time ever at Noche UFC!” he exclaimed in a press release.
Despite the enthusiasm, details remain sparse. No visuals of the Dana White hologram have been released, with the PR team withholding any images. Instead, Microsoft Designer provided a speculative image, though it couldn’t generate Dana White’s face due to limitations on celebrity likenesses.
In an unusual twist, the production costs for UFC 306 have ballooned dramatically—from an initial estimate of $8 million to a staggering $20 million. This escalation has led to record-setting face value prices of up to $23,000 per ticket. Yet, resale ticket prices have since plummeted to a fraction of their original cost and continue to fall.
Reflecting this turbulence, the real Dana White recently told MMA journalist John Morgan, “We’re not ever doing an event at the Sphere again.” The night promises to be a technological spectacle, albeit with a notable hint of finality for the venue.
