UFC Freedom 250 was bound to attract widespread attention and it certainly delivered on that side to the scale of nearly twenty million viewers. The White House-based card that took place on June 14th saw Paramount+ record a cumulative amount of 17 million viewers across America and Latin America. Between the United States and Latin America, 15.3 million viewers came from the former market while the latter market brought in 1.7 million viewers.
This was the largest viewing audience that Paramount+ has received so far within a UFC media rights deal that kicked off at the beginning of this year. It was also the biggest live exclusive event in the broadcast platform’s overall history. An average of 8.2 million viewers took in the more concise seven-fight offering. The 8.2 million average viewer figure was broken up by 7 million viewers within America and 1.2 million viewers within Latin America.
These metrics came out today with the figures provided by both Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. These are also tied to the US and Latin America, as mentioned, with broader worldwide numbers to be rolled out at a later date. With Joe Rogan previously claiming the event was viewed by 150 million people, it remains to be seen if the subsequent viewership figures will fill out to that speculative number from the UFC broadcaster and podcast host.
Also of note is that these viewership numbers do not account for variables like delayed viewership.
UFC Freedom 250 and where it stacks up among the most-viewed MMA events of all time
UFC Freedom 250 was done in concert with celebrating 250 years of America, while also taking place on President Donald Trump‘s birthday. The polarizing pugilistic spectacle emphatically blew prior MMA viewership metrics out of the water.
The UFC’s inaugural card on Fox saw Junior Dos Santos with a quick KO of Cain Velasquez, which drew in 5.7 million average viewers with 8.8 million overall viewing JDS capture the UFC’s heavyweight crown. Dos Santos also fought on the recent Netflix MVP MMA card that saw Ronda Rousey quickly submit Gina Carano, which garnered 9.3 million viewers on average and 11.6 million viewers overall.
Several other high water marks over the years like Kimbo Slice’s viewership numbers during his Elite XC tenure have also been subsequently eclipsed by the UFC Freedom 250 showcase from last weekend.