UFC surprises and reveals growth after a R$159 million hole in the White House; understand why.

Dana White at a UFC event. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook/UFC

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UFC White House , held on June 14th, went down in history as one of the most ambitious combat sports events. However, this grandeur came at a high cost for TKO, the company responsible for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Set on the lawn of the United States presidential residence, the card generated a financial loss of approximately US$30 million (around R$150 million).

During a conference call with investors, TKO's CFO, Andrew Schleimer, explained that the event had significantly higher-than-normal costs, offset only partially by the total sale of global partnership quotas. He also highlighted that there was no ticket sales, which prevented any revenue from ticket sales.

“Regarding UFC Casa Branca , we had significantly higher than normal costs, which we partially offset with sold-out global partner inventory. It's worth remembering that we didn't sell tickets and therefore didn't record any revenue from live events. Given the event's profile, which, as expected, resulted in an approximate loss of US$30 million (around R$159 million), our UFC margins, as well as our consolidated margins, were significantly impacted,” said the TKO CFO.

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According to the director, the initial costs of UFC Casa Branca were projected to exceed US$60 million (approximately R$318 million). However, the organization managed to mitigate the financial impact through partnerships established for the event.

UFC continues to grow

Although the loss is noteworthy, the company still recorded overall growth in the second quarter of 2026. On Monday (4), TKO released its financial results for the period, which included losses from the event held at the White House. Even so, the company pointed to significant growth in revenue.

TKO reported that UFC revenue increased 29% compared to 2025, jumping from US$119,8 million (approximately R$634,9 million) to US$535,7 million (approximately R$2,84 billion) in the second quarter of 2026. This performance includes a US$64,7 million (approximately R$342,9 million) increase in media rights, driven primarily by new broadcast agreements with Paramount+.

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