UFC Freedom 250 made history on Sunday night when the premier MMA promotion staged its first-ever event on the South Lawn of the White House. The unprecedented setting and stacked lineup generated enormous interest, prompting UFC CEO Dana White to predict “Super Bowl-like” viewership numbers before the event. It seems like their prediction might have turned out to be true, as confirmed by Joe Rogan recently.
Joe Rogan shares viewership numbers of White House’s UFC Freedom 250 event
Furthermore, speaking at the post-fight press conference, CEO Dana White revealed that Paramount CEO David Ellison had already shared his excitement over the event’s early performance. “I just got off the phone with David Ellison, he’s going crazy, I mean, out the gates from the first fight, it exceeded their expectation, I’ll let them do their announcement but it was monstrous tonight, you don’t get calls from billionaires too often,” White exclaimed.
Now, longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan appears to have shed more light on just how many people tuned in. During a recent episode of his podcast, Rogan suggested that UFC Freedom 250 could end up being one of the most-watched sporting events ever. “It is one of the most-watched sports events in the history of the world. I don’t know what the total overall views are as of now, but I know that it was like well over 150 million just by Monday.” In fact, Rogan further claimed, “So, that’s like the night of, and then people that watched the replay but now between then and now, it’s probably another 50 or 60 million people that watched it.”
Although official numbers have yet to be released, early indicators point to a massive audience. According to Sensor Tower data, Paramount+ experienced a significant surge in activity following the landmark event, with app downloads jumping 276 percent compared to the platform’s previous 30-day average. Paramount is expected to reveal official figures in the coming days. However, obtaining precise viewership numbers for streaming broadcasts can often be difficult, making Rogan’s comments one of the first indications of the event’s potentially record-breaking reach.
Originally reported by Mehak Walia on Mandatory.com.