Donald Trump hailed the White House UFC fight as a huge TV success, but named the wrong network. He said CBS aired the event nationally, though the fights actually streamed somewhere else. The June 14 card on the White House South Lawn was one of the most unusual live events of Trump’s presidency and a made-for-TV spectacle tied to his 80th birthday.
Donald Trump’s White House fight was a hit, just not on the network he named
Speaking Wednesday at the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota, Donald Trump drifted into a long aside about the UFC event after talking about the heat expected at an upcoming appearance. He said bad weather nearly forced organizers to scrap the White House fight night, which was ultimately delayed by 45 minutes. He called it “one of the highest-rated fights in history” (via The Daily Beast).
Trump then leaned on his old TV credentials from The Apprentice and argued that the timing helped. “It was on CBS, national, on a Sunday night, not a Saturday night. Saturday nights are called ‘Death Valley’ for television,” he said. He later repeated that it “was broadcast on CBS” and drew among the biggest ratings ever for a fight. That was the mix-up. The event was not carried on CBS’ free broadcast network. It streamed as a pay-per-view offering on Paramount+, whose parent company is Paramount Skydance.
Even with all the confusion, the event still pulled in a huge audience. According to Nielsen data shared by The Hollywood Reporter, around 7 million people watched in the U.S. Meanwhile, Adobe Analytics estimated another 1.2 million viewers across Latin America. Paramount+ also said nearly 15.26 million Americans tuned in for at least part of the seven-fight card.
The fights weren’t the only thing people were talking about after the event. Josh Hokit came under heavy criticism for making a derogatory comment about former First Lady Michelle Obama during his post-fight interview.
