UFC Freedom 250 generated massive attention when it was held near the White House in June, but the event came with a substantial financial cost. TKO Group Holdings reported that the UFC lost approximately $30 million on the spectacle, largely because the company incurred unusually high production and operating expenses without selling tickets.
Andrew Schleimer, TKO’s chief financial officer, addressed the event’s financial impact during the company’s second-quarter 2026 earnings call.
“The event’s financial profile, which as anticipated, resulted in approximately a $30 million loss,” Schleimer said. He added that the event had a meaningful effect on UFC’s margins and TKO’s consolidated results during the quarter.
The company did not sell tickets for the event, meaning it recorded no live-event ticket revenue. That absence was a significant factor in the financial outcome. TKO partially offset the expenses through partnerships and marketing deals, using the event to attract both existing sponsors and new commercial partners.
Despite the loss, company executives presented Freedom 250 as a deliberate investment in the UFC brand. The event’s fan festival at the Ellipse drew more than 130,000 attendees across two days, while the seven-bout card reached more than 34 million viewers in reported markets. Paramount+ carried the event in the United States and Latin America, where it attracted 17 million viewers.
The event also generated more than $1 billion in earned media value, according to TKO. Mark Shapiro, TKO’s president and chief operating officer, said the company added 25 marketing partners to its roster around the event, with several signing multi-year or multi-event agreements.
“We came in exactly as anticipated or close enough for government work, with a loss of approximately $30 million,” Schleimer told analysts. He said the event helped the company secure deals that could contribute revenue in 2026, 2027, 2028 and beyond.
Shapiro also defended the investment, saying UFC had been transparent about the expected result. “When we did UFC Freedom 250, despite telling everyone we were going to lose $30 million and do record-setting numbers in terms of earned media, nonetheless, I kept reading about the fact that, ‘Oh, they’re probably going to lose more than they say,’ and we didn’t.”
The event lowered UFC’s second-quarter adjusted EBITDA margin to 52%, from 59% a year earlier. However, UFC revenue still rose 29% to $536 million, while adjusted EBITDA increased 15% to $280 million. TKO also raised its full-year 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA outlook.
