Paramount’s silence over the viewership number of the fight against Conor Benn seemingly contradicts Ryan Garcia‘s confidence. Two weeks ago, after reports claimed the Benn fight had fared poorly as far as the streaming audience was concerned, the WBC welterweight champion fired back, “FALSE—The numbers are coming in; no one has them. Why do you have to put out fake reports?” A fresh update suggesting Paramount has yet to share any relevant viewership numbers from the September 12 event now undercuts his post-fight boldness.
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“Paramount+ has refused to release viewing figures for Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn amid reports the event was a major flop for Zuffa Boxing and the network,” read the tweet from World Boxing News. “The numbers remain under wraps following one of Zuffa’s biggest boxing events to date. 🥊📺.”
The information on the viewership performance of the Ryan Garcia-Conor Benn event remains limited. Several figures have circulated online, including claims that between 3 million and 5 million people watched the event. However, those numbers have not been confirmed by Paramount+ or supported by reliable independent data.
The international setup for the Zuffa Boxing card was different. In the UK and Ireland, DAZN made the fight available through its PPV service as well as its Ultimate subscription option.
The event did produce a confirmed live-gate figure of about $8.03 million from 18,855 spectators. However, that number only reflects ticket revenue and cannot, therefore, be used to determine the event’s streaming audience.
The situation gained attention after Garcia reacted strongly to a post. Allegedly based on a report from noted combat sports journalist Dave Meltzer, a user suggested the event underperformed, even falling behind a UFC card that took place on the same day.
Meltzer subsequently refuted the claim. Calling the report—which now appears deleted—as “incorrect,” he said, “It was top ten in many countries, including the U.S., on Saturday. It was not top ten anywhere on Sunday, just showing people didn’t watch it on delay.”
Paramount+ has refused to release viewing figures for Ryan Garcia vs Conor Benn amid reports the event was a major flop for Zuffa Boxing and the network. The numbers remain under wraps following one of Zuffa’s biggest boxing events to date. 🥊📺
Even so, the comment from veteran boxing journalist Dan Rafael also seems to suggest that Paramount may have kept the viewership numbers private.
“Paramount+ has declined to release any numbers,” Rafael wrote, when a user asked if the subscription giant has shared the details surrounding Garcia-Benn’s viewership audience. If it hadn’t, the user speculated whether the show did not perform well.
A closer inspection of gaps in Paramount’s audience data history does reveal a reported dispute with global market research and data analytics company Nielsen, which measures what audiences watch, listen to, and buy.
But reports suggest those differences could be attributed more to business disagreements than an effort to conceal numbers. When their measurement contract ended in September 2024, Paramount moved to VideoAmp after objecting to Nielsen’s pricing. That meant advertisers temporarily relied on an alternative measurement system.
Paramount and Nielsen reportedly settled in February 2025 with a new multi-year agreement covering Paramount’s broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms, including Paramount +.
Beyond the viewership issue, Ryan Garcia has repeatedly responded publicly when criticism has surrounded his boxing promotion or media appearances. One notable example remains the buildup to the fight against Devin Haney in April 2024. Questions over his antics and behavior continued to dominate the coverage during that period. More recently, his July 2026 WWE RAW appearance drew strong fan criticism.
For the Haney fight, he acknowledged that his unusual public behavior had been deliberately planned to attract attention and promote the bout. In the WWE case, Garcia wished the organizers had given him a better segment.
Neither instance, however, can be taken as a clear example of him going on the defensive when questions over an event in which he competed arose.
Ryan Garcia vs. Conor Benn: why the missing numbers are raising doubts
Taken together, viewership concerns return to the original premise: why have some started to view the September 12 show in Las Vegas as a flop?
The argument centers around the signing and retention of Conor Benn. A longtime Matchroom Boxing fighter, the English welterweight switched promotions early this year when he joined Zuffa Boxing for a reported one-fight fee of $15 million.
The April 11 fight against Regis Prograis at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium marked his promotional debut and essentially set the stage for the Garcia fight as he inked a five-fight, two-and-a-half-year deal with Zuffa. While details surrounding the financials of the new deal are limited, it could be assumed that it must have been a good offer for Benn to continue the relationship with Zuffa.
Under those circumstances, when a promotion and its broadcast partners are so heavily invested in a fighter, both monetarily and in terms of expansion, they could be expected to seek a reasonable return on investment. Benn may be relatively lesser-known in the United States. But, alongside the prestige of his family name, he still has a drawing power in the UK.
So, after putting such a prominent name on the card, which comes off a compelling storyline, the organizers must have expected the event to be widely watched, meeting, if not exceeding, their viewership expectations.
More significantly, if the viewership audience was genuinely low, both Zuffa and Paramount could face questions from stakeholders over making such an expensive investment.
By next weekend, it will be a month since Garcia vs. Benn took place. If the situation over viewership details still remains clouded, it will only give skeptics more reason to question the numbers.