Trump’s UFC fights viewership was 117 million short of Dana White’s Super Bowl-level prediction

Key Points:

• President Donald Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House averaged 8.2 million viewers on Paramount+, falling significantly short of UFC president Dana White’s prediction of “Super Bowl-type numbers” and the 124.9 million viewers of Super Bowl LX.
• Despite lower-than-expected average viewership, the event became the largest exclusive live event ever for Paramount+, reaching a total of 17 million unique viewers during the broadcast.
• The event featured seven UFC fights on the South Lawn to celebrate the U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump’s 80th birthday, with notable outcomes including Justin Gaethje winning the lightweight title and Ciryl Gane controversially securing the interim heavyweight title.
• Since January, Paramount+ has been the UFC’s main broadcast partner, transitioning from pay-per-view to a subscription model, with 16 million subscriber households watching over 180 million hours of UFC content, significantly surpassing previous pay-per-view averages.
• The UFC Freedom 250 event set a new record for Paramount+ live events, surpassing the previous UFC 324 event’s 5 million average viewers and 7 million households across the US and Latin America.