Not much can stop Dana White from boasting about the UFC’s success. But the risk of violating SEC rules appears to have forced the company’s CEO to bite his tongue, limiting him to revealing only the record-breaking viewership numbers for UFC Freedom 250, which, by every measure, was the biggest event in the company’s history. Speaking to a gaggle of reporters after UFC Vegas 119, White made that clear. 

“I mean, a third of their subscribers tuned in,” White said. “It was huge and the global numbers massive. So that’s going to come out next week. That’s the biggest thing that we’ve ever done. And obviously the biggest thing ever for the sport. My job… is to deliver for Paramount. And boy, have we delivered in six months. I mean, a lot of the stuff we’ve just been quiet. 

“We let them announce, and then some of these markets that were still in our pay-per-view. So you got to go through all the pay-per-view stuff and everything else. But the global number will probably come out next week.”

While people wait for the global numbers for the event, the seven-fight card that aired on Paramount+ in the US, free for its subscribers, is indeed on pay-per-view internationally. In countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, numbered UFC events still require PPV payment. Besides, according to Flix Patrol, Paramount+ has 79.6 million subscribers. 

Out of that, reporters have revealed that 17 million people in the US and Latin America watched the event for at least one minute. And the event averaged 8.2 million concurrent viewers in the US and Latin America. So, White’s rough approximation that the event was watched by a third of Paramount’s subscribers is wrong. In fact, according to Business Stats, the number of subscribers is even higher at 83.8 million.

Regardless, even the confirmed viewership fell well short of Dana White’s lofty prediction. Before the event, the UFC CEO claimed UFC Freedom 250 would draw Super Bowl-level numbers. That never came close to happening, with the Super Bowl reportedly attracting 124.9 million viewers. The bigger question now is: how big can the global numbers for the event be? 

“There [are] two problems,” White said, refusing to reveal the number. “We’re a public company, and Paramount is a public company. And there [are] so many massive wins from that night, but I can’t talk about any of them because they influence stock movement. So there’s so much stuff we get to… I’m telling you, just watch what happens.”

As White said, revealing anything beyond the viewership can influence TKO Group, UFC’s parent company’s stock value. Regulation Fair Disclosure prohibits company executives from selectively disclosing material nonpublic information (MNPI) to certain groups. That includes securities analysts, institutional investors, or shareholders who are likely to trade on that information. 

However, Reg FD also allows companies to disclose such information, provided it is released to the public at the same time through a broad, non-exclusionary channel. Perhaps that’s the reason White claimed that even the global viewership numbers will be revealed next week by Paramount, as they take the proper steps to reveal the numbers.

In the meantime, however, the event managed to beat its new competitor.

Dana White-led UFC did better numbers than MVP MMA 1 on Netflix

Ronda Rousey and Gina Carano headlined MVP’s first MMA card on Netflix in May. And the viewership numbers for the event have already been revealed, raking in 12.4 million average minute audience and 17 million viewers. And those numbers represent global viewership. Whereas, the UFC Freedom 250 card has managed to get its numbers just from the United States. 

Rousey, who claimed the White House card “sucked” before the event, took another shot at UFC’s CBO Hunter Campbell. “Lmao! Kiss my a–, Hunter Campbell,” she wrote on X. In the meantime, however, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan, who was part of the event earlier this month, saw himself proven hugely wrong when the actual numbers came out.

He had previously claimed that the White House event got 150 million viewers. But the reality, of course, was completely different. Unless the global numbers can cross that mark when they are revealed, Rogan may have to walk back his claims. 

At the end of the day, however, there’s no denying that the White House card was one of the more entertaining spectacles UFC has put together. So, it would be interesting to see what the global numbers say about it.