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Ari Emanuel, TKO Group’s executive chairman and CEO, called the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House “a roaring success.” But the company said it lost $30 million on the elaborately staged extravaganza, held June
14 on the grounds of the White House to coincide with President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.
“TKO’s unique ability to deliver one-on-one live events and experiences was front and center in the second quarter. Nothing illustrates this better than UFC Freedom 250 held in June,” Emanuel said on the company’s Q2 2026 earnings call. “This event was a roaring success for our company, the UFC brand and the sport of mixed martial arts, exposure, earned media, audience expansion and a weekend long fan experience.”
However, later on the call, TKO CFO Andrew Schleimer said that with UFC Freedom 250, “we incurred significantly higher-than-normal costs, which we partially offset with sold out global partnerships inventory. As a reminder, we did not sell tickets and therefore, did not record any live events revenue. Given the events financial profile, which as anticipated, resulted in approximately $30 million loss, our margins at UFC as well as on a consolidated basis, were meaningfully impacted.”
UFC Freedom 250 averaged 8.2 million viewers across the U.S. and Latin America on Paramount+ — which, according to the streamer, marks its biggest live exclusive event ever. A year ago, Paramount announced a seven-year, $7.7 billion media rights deal in 2025 that made Paramount+ the exclusive streaming home of UFC in the U.S., effectively ending its pay-per-view model in America.
UFC Freedom 250 featured a seven-bout card and marked the first time in UFC history where each fight ended with a knockout or technical knockout. The White House had called UFC Freedom 250 “a once-in-a-generation celebration of the American fighting spirit.”
Despite the loss from the UFC White House event, TKO — which also is the parent company of WWE — topped analyst expectations for Q2. The company raised guidance for full-year 2026 revenue by $75 million (to a projected $5.775 billion-$5.825 billion) and upped expected adjusted EBITDA by $25 million (to $2.275 billion-$2.305 billion).
For Q2, TKO’s adjusted EBITDA increased 23%. Schleimer noted that removing the impact of UFC Freedom 250, “we would have seen significantly higher total company margin expansion.” Meanwhile, despite the financial loss, Schleimer told analysts, “In the days leading up to UFC Freedom 250, we met with dozens of existing and new contacts in Washington, D.C., a clear example of how our access and the attractiveness of our events can translate into opportunity.”
The company used UFC Freedom 250 “to leverage this event and its value to sign up partners that impact ’26, ’27 and in some cases, ’28 and beyond,” Schleimer said. “So we feel really good about our positioning going into next year.”
Pictured above: President Donald Trump and UFC CEO Dana White walk out of the White House onto the South Lawn for the UFC Freedom 250 fight on June 14 in Washington, D.C.
