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Dana White, President and CEO of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), watches as US military jets practice a flyover ahead of the UFC Freedom 250 event at the White House in Washington, DC on June 12, 2026. The UFC Freedom 250 event will be held on the South Lawn of the White House on US President Donald Trump's 80th birthday on June 14. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images
UFC CEO Dana White always told us the UFC White House card came with a hefty price tag.
On Monday, TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of the UFC, revealed that the promotion lost around $30 million to host the year’s premier MMA event. Per Andrew Schleimer, the chief financial officer of TKO, event costs were “significantly higher-than-normal” and those expenses were only “partially offset with sold-out global partnerships inventory.” (h/t The Hill).
The total event costs are estimated at $60 million.
It’s not cheap to pay multiple champions, build an Octagon, and spend nearly a million on grass repairs. UFC is accustomed to raking in the dough via massive site fees and record-breaking ticket sales (due in part to skyrocketing prices), but the UFC White House card didn’t sell tickets. Instead, tickets were given to President Donald Trump administration members, as well as active servicemen.
Partially as a result of the UFC White House event, TKO’s 2026 quarter two live event revenue declined to $47.8 million, compared to $58.5 million a year prior.
It’s not all doom and gloom, however. President and chief operating officer of TKO, Mark Shapiro, believes the juice was worth the squeeze, describing the event as the “kind of exposure only a handful of events in the world” can achieve and claiming it earned over $1 billion in “earned media value.” Because of the visibility and success of the Freedom 250 card, TKO was able to sign new sponsors and make big marketing connections.
Shapiro explained, “It also deepened our commercial relationships, adding 25 new marketing partners to our roster — many signing multi-year or multi-event deals.”
Despite the expenses and lack of ticket sales, TKO 2026 quarter two net revenue was stronger than the year prior by about 10% or $30 million. That’s the benefit of the groundbreaking Paramount deal, which practically guarantees massive profits for TKO and the UFC regardless of any risky singular event.
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