UFC CEO Dana White is predicting knockout ratings for President Donald Trump's controversial White House cage fights — and implausibly claims that Sunday night's audience could rival that of the Super Bowl.
"For UFC fans all over the world, this is a very unique experience for everybody,” White told TNT Fight Sports. “We’re expecting Super Bowl-type numbers for this, for this fight.”
That's despite the fact that the Paramount+ streaming network that's exclusively carrying the UFC's "Freedom 250" event has fewer than 80 million subscribers and this year's Super Bowl drew an average of more than 125 million viewers, according to The Daily Beast.
The Super Bowl has for years been the most-watched single TV broadcast in the U.S., with a record average of more than 127 million viewers in 2025.
The only live sporting event that's attracted anywhere near as many eyeballs as the Super Bowl was the 2024 boxing match that pitted former heavyweight champ Mike Tyson against social media star Jake Paul and was watched by 108 million people, The Daily Beast noted.
But that fight — which left many viewers disappointed — was streamed by Netflix, which reportedly has about 325 million subscribers, more than four times as many as Paramount+.
During his TNT Fight Sports interview, White also gushed over Trump and his role in helping the UFC gain popularity by hosting its events at his thrice-bankrupt Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 2001.
“Where we came from and how this whole sport started and how it was frowned upon in the United States to now heading to the White House is pretty surreal,” White said. “And the president of the United States is a huge fight fan.”
Trump will turn 80 years old Sunday and is expected to be sitting ringside, next to White, to watch the norm-shattering fights on the South Lawn of the White House.
Last year, the UFC struck a $7.7 billion deal with Paramount+ owner Paramount Skydance, which is run by David Ellison, son of billionaire Oracle founder and Trump ally Larry Ellison.
David Ellison has faced widespread criticism for making conservative journalist Bari Weiss the editor-in-chief of CBS News, which he took over when his Skydance Media paid $8 billion for Paramount Global in 2024.
Last week, veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley was fired after accusing Weiss of "murdering" the long-running CBS show, following the ouster its executive producer, executive editor and two other correspondents.
"She does not love this place. She was brought in to kill it and is doing exactly that," Pelley reportedly said during a June 1 staff meeting.
Paramount Skydance is now seeking federal approval for its planned $110 billion purchase of rival entertainment giant Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns CNN.
