UFC 328 took place on Saturday in New Jersey. The event was a reported sellout with the Flyweight title fight earning fight of the night.

Joshua Van’s technical stoppage in the fifth round over Tatsuro Taira drew the $100K Fight of the Night. Taira looked good in this fight and likely took 2 rounds from the champion but Van’s striking showed up in the later rounds and while the stoppage may have been premature, it was clear Van had the 5th.

Jim Miller scored another Performance Bonus with his first round submission of Jared Gordon. Miller gets $100K.

The event was a reported sellout with 17,783 in attendance for a gate of $7,518,918.

In addition to Thomas Gerbasi, Chris Weidman will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this summer. The former UFC middleweight champion, Weidman will go into the modern ring of the UFC Hall of Fame.

Weidman posted a 12-8 UFC record and continues as a talking head for the UFC Paramount broadcasts. Weidman won the UFC middleweight title with a victory over Anderson Silva. Notably, Weidman knocked out Silva after the champion had taunted him. In the rematch in December 2013, he retained the title after the challenger infamously and grotesquely broke his leg during the fight.

Weidman would defend the belt two times before losing it to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194.

The company announced that Thomas Gerbasi will be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this July. Gerbasi, a notable writer and editor in MMA, will be inducted into the contributor wing of the UFC.

Gerbasi began his career in boxing journalism and switched to MMA. His biggest endeavor for the UFC has been updating and writing for the UFC’s web site.

Via press release:

A proud native New Yorker, Gerbasi graduated from St. John’s University and celebrated his life-long love of boxing in early web publications like HouseOfBoxing.com and MaxBoxing.com, where he quickly became recognized as an authority in the sport. 

In 2024, he was honored with the Nat Fleischer Award for excellence in boxing journalism from the Boxing Writers Association of America. In 2022, he was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame for his work as a journalist covering the sport. His final book Boxing: The 100 Greatest Fighters, was released in September 2025.

His acumen in boxing and combat sports eventually caught the eye of UFC, where he would transfer his massive knowledge and immense credibility to the world of mixed martial arts. He authored several of the definitive works on the company, including UFC: A Visual History; The UFC Encyclopedia; and The Official UFC Fan Guide. He diligently kept meticulous biographies of every fighter and was recognized as the utmost authority both inside and outside of UFC.A proud native New Yorker, Gerbasi graduated from St. John’s University and celebrated his life-long love of boxing in early web publications like HouseOfBoxing.com and MaxBoxing.com, where he quickly became recognized as an authority in the sport. 

During Wednesday’s earnings report for the first quarter of 2026, an analyst asked about if the company was concerned with the potential of pullback after the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Tour received word that it would no longer receive funding.

However, TKO President Mark Shapiro confirmed that its partnership with Saudi Arabia remains strong. Shapiro noted that the WWE will continue to hold events in the Kingdom including a recently announced event on June 27th.

The current agreement between TKO and the Saudi Arabian Public Interest Fund runs through 2027.

In what may be a regular occurrence now, the first hour of WWE’s Premium Live Event, Backlash, will air on ESPN2. The Countdown Show on ESPN and the first hour will be on the network with the rest appearing on the ESPN App.

Last month, the network aired the first hour of Wrestlemania on the main ESPN network on both Saturday and Sunday.

Payout Perspective:

The move is a way to promote the ESPN subscription-based platform. While last month’s ratings for the first hour of Wrestlemania were big, having the first hour of Backlash on the secondary network will likely draw less viewers.

For those watching UFC Embedded for UFC 328, it is sponsored by Pit Boss Grills. The company signed on with the UFC last month as a sponsor.

The company has sponsor deals with non-traditional stick and ball sports such as NASCAR and other motorsports. Pit Boss Grills is based out of Scottsdale, Arizona and its parent company is Danson’s, Inc.

Pit Boss Grills first appeared on the Octagon mat at UFC 327 in Miami last month. The company will be involved in UFC numbered events and Fight Nights as well as have a presence at viewing parties, sweepstakes and digital media such as this week’s Embedded series.

TKO Group Holdings announced its earnings for the first quarter of 2026. TKO reported earnings of $1.597 billion in revenue reflecting a 26% increase from 2025. The UFC and WWE contributed to TKO’s big quarter.

TKO garnered $249.8 million in net income and $549.8 million in adjusted EBITDA. It also returned approximately $1B of capital to equity holders through share repurchases and dividend payments and related distributions.

The UFC earned $401.2M in revenue in the three months starting on January 1, 2026 and ending on March 31, 2026. This is an increase from the $359.7M in 2025. The media rights, production and content earned the most for the company drawing $276.3M viewers in 2026. Live events and hospitality were down from $58.6M in 2025 to $48.5M in 2026. This is in part to two fewer Fight Night events in the quarter versus the events in 2025 which included a Fight Night event in Saudi Arabia “partially offset by higher ticket sales revenue, compared to the prior year period.”

Partnerships and marketing drew $67.1M viewers in 2026 which was up from $64.3M viewers in 2025. Consumer products and licensing and other drew $10.3M viewers were down compared to the $12.7M in 2025.

WWE drew $281.7M in media rights, etc. versus $251.6 in 2025. Live events and hospitality grew in 2026 from $76.3 to $123.5M which is related to “an increase in financial incentive package revenues” (site fees) most notably from the Royal Rumble being held in Saudi Arabia. Partnerships and marketing drew $26.2 as opposed to $25.6 in 2025. Consumer products grew from $44.3 to $38.0 in 2025.

The most notable thing is the fact that Saudi Arabia increases TKO’s bottom line. Notice the increase in Live events, etc. revenue for WWE this year and the lack of a Saudi Arabia event for the UFC in this quarter,

Both UFC and WWE are doing well in all segments (except maybe UFC’s merchandise segment).

The company announced that its forecast for 2026 target revenue of $5.675B to $5.775B is still in line.

WWE Friday Night Smackdown drew 1.58M viewers for the last show prior to Wrestlemania 42.

The telecast drew 572,000 viewers in the A18-49 demo per Programming Insider.

The telecast was the highest-rated show for Smackdown in 2026 which boded well for Wrestlemania.

The telecast was mainly a recap show but did include the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and a street fight featuring the MFTs and The Wyatt Six. Unfortunately, it was the last event for the Wyatt Six as well as Jeff Cobb.

For the first time, we could see how many people tuned in to watch Wrestlemania. ESPN showed the first hour of each night with the rest on the ESPN Unlimited App.

The first night Saturday scored 1.62M viewers per Nielsen. On Sunday, it drew 1.82M viewers.

The telecast on Saturday featured crossover stars Logan Paul and IShowSpeed in a six man tag team matchup. The final spot of the match showed Speed turn on Paul and jump on him from the top rop to the announcers table. The second match on Saturday was Jacob Fatu defeating Drew Mcintyre in an Unsanctioned match.

The Sunday matches on the network showed the purported in-ring retirement of Brock Lesnar as he was defeated by Oba Femi. In addition, there was a six-man ladder match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.

Dana White took to Fox News to reveal more information on the UFC event to be held at the White House next month.

White indicated that 4,300 people will be allowed onto the White House lawn to watch the card. Most of the attendees will be members of the administration, VIPs, dignitaries and the military.

In addition, the UFC will have a fan fest and viewing party at the Ellipse park near the White House. The president made the announcement that the building of the stadium is being constructed for the anticipated fans that will attend. Fans will be able to watch the fights on big screens at the park. White indicated that they will give away 85,000 tickets to the park.

Payout Perspective:

To be honest, I am not sure if we will see 85,000 people attend an event to watch on a big screen. While White has reiterated this is not a political event. It is. And, like last year’s military parade, its a way to appease the sitting president. In the end, how much will it cost taxpayers. Who are the contractors that are doing the work to construct the stadium? We may never know because we refuse to force people to answer the tough questions.