CBS won't air UFC White House event, viewers will need Paramount+ to watch

CBS will not televise the UFC’s event at the White House Sunday, June 14, UFC CEO Dana White told reporters, according to MMA Junkie, part of the USA TODAY Network.

That means viewers will have to pay to watch the event on Paramount+, which charges a minimum of $8.99 for a monthly subscription.

White cited the plan to tell America’s story during the show as the reason CBS would not be involved.

"No, because there’s only X number of fights and it starts from the first one," White said. "We start at the beginning of time and like the Mexican Independence Day fight that we did, we’re going to tell the story of America from the first fight to the last. So no, they’ll all be on Paramount+."

This year Paramount+ replaced ESPN as its streaming partner after agreeing to pay the UFC $7.7 billion over seven years for that right. Paramount has about 80 million subscribers and is expecting the number to grow thanks to its partnership with UFC.

CBS, which is owned by Paramount, has aired portions of UFC cards earlier this year, meaning it was available for free. But those CBS broadcasts featured leadup fights to the main card numbered events, the UFC’s marquee fights.

UFC’s deal with Paramount also touted the end of pay-per-view fees ESPN charged to watch the numbered events.

The event at the White House has been billed at UFC Freedom 250 and as a celebration of the country’s 250^th birthday. It will feature seven fights, about half as many as are on a typical UFC card.