The UFC always expected a significant loss staging the recent UFC White House card in June, but despite those financial setbacks, the company still saw overall growth in the second quarter of 2026.
On Monday, TKO Group Holdings released its second-quarter financials, which included the losses from the UFC White House card. While the company was able to recoup some of the money through sponsorships and other partnerships, the UFC White House event was ultimately paid for by the promotion with no ticket
sales or other revenue coming from the event.
“With regards to UFC Freedom 250, we incurred significantly higher than normal costs, which we partially offset with sold-out global partnerships inventory,” TKO chief financial officer Andrew Schleimer said during a call with investors. “As a reminder, we did not sell tickets and therefore did not record any live events revenue.
“Given the event’s profile, which as anticipated, resulted in an approximate $30 million loss, our margins at UFC as well as on a consolidated basis were meaningfully impacted.”
Initial costs for the event were expected to skyrocket past $60 million, but that was eventually lessened by the various partnerships that the UFC signed for the card. Ultimately losing $30 million was expected, but that still didn’t hit the bottom line when it came to the overall quarter.
TKO reported that the UFC’s revenue increased 29% year over year, from $119.8 million to $535.7 million for the second quarter of 2026, which included a $64.7 million increase in media rights driven primarily by the new broadcast deal with Paramount that kicked off in January.
Overall, TKO always expected the one-time-only UFC White House card would impact financials with a significant loss, but it turns out the $30 million spent didn’t hurt the company in the long run after all.
