Donald Trump’s UFC event confirmed to be a massive financial disaster
· Yahoo Sports
The UFC Freedom 250 event on the White House’s South Lawn, a celebration of the U.S.’s 250th birthday and Donald Trump’s 80th on June 14, was well-received by fans, despite some of the lewd comments made by fighter Josh Hokit about former First Lady Michelle Obama, which UFC President Dana White himself even called “disgusting.”
Even with Hokit’s transgression, the atmosphere was undeniable, with podcaster Joe Rogan, who commentated the event, saying, “That was the wildest experience that I’ve ever had in my 20-whatever years of calling combat sports. There’s nothing even close.”
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White said that Paramount CEO David Ellison was thirlled with the event’s impact on the Paramount+ streaming service.
“In every way you can measure success, … it was monstrous tonight. You don’t get calls from billionaires flipping out too often,” he said of speaking with Ellison.
Still, for all its successes, White insisted in the event’s aftermath that the event was a one-time affair.
“I can’t afford it,” White said. “There’s no [freaking] way we can do this again. I’ll never do the Sphere again, and we’ll never do this again.”
$10s of millions in losses
Now, the depth of the financial ramifications has been confirmed.
“TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer confirmed during today’s second-quarter earnings call that the UFC White House card ended up losing $30 million in actual money, as projected,” Sports Business Journal’s Adam Stern reported on Wednesday.
TKO president Mark Shapiro on @Zuffa_Boxing: “The growth of this asset is comfortably ahead of schedule.”
TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer confirmed during today’s second-quarter earnings call that the UFC White House card ended up losing $30 million in actual money, as projected. pic.twitter.com/anywLkPhOw
— Adam Stern (@A_S12) August 3, 2026
All but guarantees it won’t happen again
Despite the financial disaster the event ended up being, White was thankful to the President for being able to put it on.
“This event was for America’s 250th birthday. There was no other political agenda for the event, or anything like that,” he said. “I was just honored to be the person [Trump] trusted to deliver tonight. I hope that everybody, as an American, feels that we did.”
As honored as White was, he insisted even in June that it wouldn’t happen again, and Stern’s reporting all but ensures it.
“It was incredible. It was an amazing experience,” White said. “This was a one-of-one that will never happen again.”
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