UFC parent company lost $30M on White House fight

Business UFC parent company lost $30M on White House fight Comments: by Max Rego - 08/04/26 5:13 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Max Rego - 08/04/26 5:13 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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An executive from TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of the UFC, said Monday the firm lost roughly $30 million from its June event at the White House.

“With regards to UFC Freedom 250, we incurred significantly higher-than-normal costs, which we partially offset with sold-out global partnerships inventory,” Andrew Schleimer, the chief financial officer of TKO, told investors during a Monday earnings call.

Schleimer said the event’s “financial profile” resulted in a roughly $30 million loss, which the company “anticipated” beforehand. UFC spent about $60 million in production costs for the event.

President Trump attended the seven-fight spectacle, which took place on his June 14 birthday, alongside UFC CEO Dana White — a longtime friend who introduced him at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

While White called the event “an amazing experience” at the time, he said his company will not stage a repeat due to its price tag.

From the second quarter of 2025 to the second quarter of this year, TKO’s revenue from live events and hospitality decreased from $58.5 million to $47.8 million, according to the company’s quarterly earnings report.

TKO partially cited the lack of revenue via ticket sales from UFC Freedom 250 for that decline. UFC did not sell tickets to the general public for the event, instead hosting roughly 4,000 Trump administration officials, members of Congress, business executives and military servicemembers and staging the fights in an octagon on the south lawn of White House

“The decrease in live events and hospitality revenue was due to a decrease in ticket sales revenue, which was largely driven by the absence of ticket sales for UFC Freedom 250 and one fewer Numbered Event, partially offset by higher financial incentive package revenue, compared to the prior year period,” the report stated.

The event also had increased operating costs, specifically higher athlete and production costs. This resulted in TKO’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin decreasing from 59 percent in the second quarter of 2025 to 52 percent last quarter, the report added.

But during the earnings call, TKO executives praised the fight at the White House as beneficial for the company.

Mark Shapiro, the president and chief operating officer of TKO, said the Freedom 250 event generated more than $1 billion in “earned media value,” which he claimed was the “kind of exposure only a handful of events in the world” can command.

“It also deepened our commercial relationships, adding 25 new marketing partners to our roster — many signing multi-year or multi-event deals,” Shapiro said of the event, which he noted “delivered results as designed.”

Overall, TKO reported $303.9 million in net income during the second quarter, an increase of $30.8 million from quarter two of 2025.

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