Trump Predicts Freedom 250 Could Be Highest-Rated Sporting Event Ever

Donald Trump has made his boldest prediction yet about UFC Freedom 250, suggesting the June 14 White House card could break all-time sporting viewership records and describing it as an event that will never be replicated.

"It's right at the front door of the White House. You'll never see it again and it's never happened before. It's going to be great and the UFC's gonna have all the best fighters in the world coming that night. Dana is an amazing man and he's done an amazing job, he's put together something that will be the highest-rated event maybe ever in sports," Trump said

Trump's involvement in the build-up has gone well beyond attendance. He suggested the Freedom 250 name, was present at the White House unveiling of a custom belt, and met with the main event fighters — Topuria, Gaethje, Pereira, and Gane — during a formal White House meeting earlier in the year. The event falls on his 80th birthday and is framed within the broader celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.

The CBS simulcast is the mechanism that makes the viewership claim worth taking seriously. Free-to-air broadcast access to an audience that extends well beyond the sport's existing fanbase, combined with the unique setting of the White House South Lawn and a card headlined by a legitimate undisputed lightweight title fight, gives Freedom 250 the ingredients to reach numbers the UFC has not previously approached. Joe Rogan, though, has his doubts about the event.

“I do not like it because it’s outside. And I think world championship fights should be in a controlled environment out of respect for the athletes and how difficult it is to compete professionally in a world title. However, I should say, however, it’s going to be a spectacle. Whether I was there or not, I would be watching, 100%. I think it’s awesome that Trump, this is one of the things that I like about him, he’s like, ‘F–k it. Let’s do it.’ He puts on cage fights on the White House lawn. That’s nuts,” Rogan said