Paramount+ revealed the UFC White House event’s viewership numbers last month, and they practically shocked the world. However, Conor McGregor’s return looked capable of providing a stern challenge to the promotion’s most ambitious spectacle. Well, that proved to be true, at least partly, after ‘The Irishman’s’ comeback event ended up beating UFC Freedom 250 in a key metric.

UFC’s official broadcast partner, Paramount+, released UFC 329’s official viewership numbers for the United States and Latin America on Thursday. The report was compiled by Nielsen and Adobe Analytics, the same firms that reported the June 14 event’s metrics last month. According to the report, Conor McGregor’s comeback card surpassed the UFC Freedom 250 event’s previous record in terms of peak concurrent streams. UFC 329 reached 8.3 million peak concurrent streams across the United States and Latin America during its Paramount+ live broadcast last Saturday. In comparison, the UFC White House event had managed to garner only 7.9 million concurrent viewers.

However, in other metrics, though, the UFC White House event outperformed Conor McGregor’s UFC 329 event. According to the report, UFC 329 amassed an impressive 15.9 million total viewers across the United States and Latin America. While that figure is remarkable, it still fell 1.1 million short of UFC Freedom 250’s peak viewership of 17 million on Paramount+.

When it comes to average viewership, too, Conor McGregor’s return card trailed the UFC Freedom 250 event. As per the report, the promotion’s marquee event drew an average of 6.5 million viewers across the United States and Latin American markets, while the White House card held a healthy lead over it with 8.2 million viewers.

As is evident, McGregor’s comeback card couldn’t completely eclipse the UFC White House’s numbers across all metrics. But it certainly outperformed it in terms of peak viewership. That becomes even more impressive considering ‘The Notorious’ returned after five years and still managed to give the UFC’s biggest spectacle ever put together a good run for its money. But the presented metrics don’t tell the entire story. While the UFC card went live last weekend, the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal between Argentina and Switzerland was also taking place, which likely split a portion of the viewing audience. But there’s more.

UFC 329 also outperformed the UFC White House event in another metric. Conor McGregor and Max Holloway’s pre-fight press conference became the most-watched UFC press conference this year, drawing more than 233,000+ live viewers on YouTube. Second on the list was the Sean Strickland vs. Khamzat Chimaev‘s UFC 328 press conference, which peaked at over 210,000+ viewers, followed by the UFC White House event in third with 180,000+ viewers.

Now, to top off UFC 329’s immense success, Dana White stated on The Pat McAfee Show that UFC 329 generated $25 million in gate revenue, the highest in the promotion’s history, surpassing the UFC Sphere event’s previous record of $22 million. Though many may find that surprising, it doesn’t seem all that unexpected considering McGregor delivered eight straight million-plus PPV events for the UFC during his prime.

After Paramount+ unveiled the event’s viewership numbers, Jake Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions co-founder, Nakisa Bidarian, wasted no time reacting, insisting his premonition about McGregor’s comeback had come true.

Jake Paul’s co-founder reacts to Conor McGregor’s UFC 329 event’s massive numbers 

Jake Paul’s MVP MMA has emerged as one of the UFC’s rising competitors in the MMA market after launching its inaugural event in May, which went toe-to-toe with the UFC White House event. Because of that, the promotion’s top brass has been closely watching how Dana White’s company performs. In fact, MVP co-founder Nakisa Bidarian has been particularly hawk-eyed when it comes to the UFC’s numbers, and he was nothing but impressed to see Conor McGregor’s event almost outperforming the UFC Freedom 250.

“Per Paramount today: UFC 329 wound up having a higher peak concurrent number than any other UFC event this year and now ranks second to Super Bowl LVIII in Paramount+ history,” Bidarian posted on X. “UFC 329 peaked at 8.295 million viewers, while the White House card came in at 7.925 million and the Super Bowl at 11.523 million.”

Here, Bidarian pointed out that UFC 329’s peak viewership of more than 8.2 million ranked second only to Super Bowl LVIII, which amassed a mammoth 11.5 million viewers on Paramount+, making it a remarkable achievement. However, Paul’s co-founder had actually predicted this outcome beforehand.

In a previous social media post, Bidarian stated that Conor McGregor would end up pulling numbers “similar” to the UFC White House event, and that prediction ultimately came true. In that sense, it once again showed that the former two-division UFC champion’s star power remains immense, even after staying away from the sport for half a decade.

That said, even though the numbers reflect a groundbreaking success for the UFC, the reality is that McGregor’s return event suffered a major setback after he blew out his knee in the main event against Max Holloway.

Currently, ‘The Notorious’ is preparing for another surgery, one that is expected to derail his comeback once again. But even if he eventually returns to the Octagon, with just one fight remaining on his contract, chances are, his return may not generate similar numbers, considering many fans were left frustrated by the way his last fight ended. Still, we’ll have to wait and see what happens next.