Rousey-Carano Beat UFC White House Event in US Viewers
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- Ronda Rousey and Jake Paul taunted UFC and Dana White after their Most Valuable Promotions Netflix fight outdrew UFC's White House event in US viewers, with Rousey telling UFC chief business officer Hunter Campbell to "kiss my ass."
- Rousey's 15-second demolition of Gina Carano in May averaged 9.3 million US viewers on Netflix with a peak audience of 11.6 million, according to Netflix.
- UFC 250 Freedom on Paramount+ reached 7 million US viewers, while the broader White House event averaged 8.2 million viewers across the US and Latin America, with 17 million watching at least one minute.
- Jake Paul, who co-founded MVP with Nakisa Bidarian, wrote on X: "As a boxing promoter it feels good waking up today being the biggest MMA promoter," framing Rousey's fight as a "takeover" of MMA.
- Paramount's figures were verified by Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, but Netflix did not disclose whether its Rousey-Carano numbers were independently verified by any third party.
- Justin Gaethje, a Trump supporter, upset Ilia Topuria in the White House main event on Trump's 80th birthday to claim the UFC lightweight title at age 37.
Why it matters: UFC positioned its White House card — held on Trump's south lawn with two title fights — as a historic spectacle, but MVP's single Netflix-streamed women's fight outdrew it in the US, undermining UFC's claim to MMA dominance at a moment Dana White is trying to expand the brand into mainstream venues.
