Posted in: MMA, Sports, TV, TV | Tagged: opinion, trump, ufc

UFC Freedom 250: Trump's MMA Birthday Present Results in $30M Loss

Dana White hinted that UFC would take a financial hit for Trump's Freedom 250 - and he was right, to the tune of a $30 million loss.

Published Tue, 04 Aug 2026 14:46:11 -0500

by Ray Flook

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There were so many things to hate-love or just hate about Dana White's birthday present to Donald Trump from back in June, aka UFC Freedom 250. Like the fact that it was meant to help celebrate the U.S.'s 250th birthday on July 4th, but it was held in June. Or that it wasn't supposed to be viewed as an attempt to stroke Trump's fragile ego – even though it was held on his birthday – on The White House lawn. And let's not forget that "The People's Event" never sold tickets to the general public, and the only way to watch it (legally) was to subscribe to Paramount+. Did we mention that Trump's folks even shit-talked The Weather Channel, accusing them of wanting the event to fail? The Weather-Fucking-Channel! And don't get us started on that steaming pile of nonsense known as UFC fighter Josh Hokit, who found a way to add even a little more white trash to the white-trash-a-palloza that was UFC Freedom 250. Unfortunately for the TKO Group Holdings-owned MMA organization, White's night of greased-up, half-naked men going to town on each other for Trump's delight (when he reportedly was awake) wasn't exactly a winning financial combination for UFC.

According to reports earlier today, the UFC took about a $30 million hit on the Freedom 250 event (though the company's overall revenue grew during the second quarter of 2026). As we mentioned earlier, tickets to the event were not open to the general public, and it drew a reported 4,300 people (including Trump and VP JD Vance). During an investor call on Monday, Andrew Schleimer, chief financial officer of TKO Group, noted that some of the costs for Freedom 250 were "partially offset with sold-out global partnerships inventory." Schleimer added, "Given the event's profile, which as anticipated, resulted in an approximate $30m loss, our margins at UFC as well as on a consolidated basis were meaningfully impacted."

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