UFC and parent company TKO Group Holdings said late Monday that they generated a series of financial gains during the second quarter, despite roughly $30 million in fiscal losses from June’s UFC Freedom 250 in Washington, D.C.
In a TKO quarterly earnings report, UFC reported a 29% bump in total revenue to $535.7 million and a 15% bump in adjusted earnings to $35.6 million. The unprecedented setting on the White House South Lawn did not allow UFC to charge fans for tickets, but still fueled a series of other historic results, including in merchandise sales and sponsorships, and an estimated $1 billion in earned media value.
“The card, the production, and the storytelling were a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle on the biggest stage possible,” TKO president and COO Mark Shapiro said in a call with analysts.
The latest results arrived seven weeks after UFC Freedom 250 main event completed a largely successful, but still often-chaotic and politically charged weekend in the nation’s capital. Nearly 200,000 people attended at the Ellipse, adjacent to the South Lawn where the fights were held. Merchandise sales, meanwhile, doubled the prior UFC record, and White said Paramount CEO David Ellison was pleased with the event’s impact on the Paramount+ streaming service.
