While the main event of UFC 329 ended in heartbreaking fashion after Conor McGregor’s long-awaited return lasted just 69 seconds, fan interest in the event never wavered. The former two-division champion suffered a devastating right knee injury during the opening exchange, and after battling to stay in the fight for over a minute, referee Mike Beltran was forced to wave off the contest, handing Max Holloway a first-round TKO victory.
Despite the anticlimactic finish, UFC 329 proved to be a massive commercial success. On Thursday, Paramount+ released the event’s streaming metrics, revealing that, according to Nielsen live streaming analysis, 15.9 million viewers tuned in across the United States and Latin America.
The event also peaked at 8.3 million concurrent streams and averaged 6.5 million viewers across both markets, while the main card attracted an average of 6.1 million viewers per minute. Although UFC 329 narrowly trailed June’s historic UFC Freedom 250 card at the White House, which drew approximately 17 million total viewers and averaged 8.2 million viewers, it outperformed the landmark event in one key category.
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UFC 329 reached a peak of 8.3 million concurrent streams, eclipsing the White House card’s 7.9 million peak. That achievement makes UFC 329 the second-biggest live event in Paramount+ history by concurrent live streams, trailing only Super Bowl LVIII, which recorded 11.5 million. Apart from this, UFC Freedom 250 reached approximately 34 million viewers worldwide for the June 14 event, and that number is expected to rise further.
The updated figure includes audiences from several additional markets, including Australia, China, India, South Korea, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. It will be interesting to see what the International Fight Week card pulled in globally.
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While UFC 329 fell just short of UFC Freedom 250 in terms of total audience and average viewership, it still stands among the most-watched UFC broadcasts in history. For perspective, the promotion’s first-ever event on FOX in 2011, headlined by Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos, averaged 5.7 million viewers in the United States and peaked at 8.8 million.
More recently, UFC 324 averaged 4.96 million domestic viewers, underscoring just how significant UFC 329’s numbers were. Those figures become even more impressive when viewed in context.
UFC 329 went head-to-head with the FIFA World Cup quarterfinal between Argentina and Switzerland, one of the biggest sporting events on the global calendar, which likely siphoned off a sizeable portion of the sports audience. Even with that formidable competition, McGregor’s comeback card delivered one of the strongest streaming performances in UFC history, cementing its place as one of the promotion’s biggest commercial successes despite the disappointing conclusion to the main event.
Kshitiz Kumar Singh is a UFC Writer at NY Fights with over three years of experience in sports journalism and content creation. Known for his sharp storytelling and passion for combat sports, he has written in-depth features on stars like Brock Lesnar, Randy Couture, and Ilia Topuria. Before joining NY Fights, Kshitiz worked as a UFC Editor at EssentiallySports while currently serving as a WWE Editor at FirstSportz. His admiration for legends like Georges St-Pierre continues to inspire his detailed and engaging MMA coverage. Whether he’s covering the Octagon or the squared circle, Kshitiz is committed to delivering accurate, high-quality content. Outside the world of sports, he’s a dedicated cinephile, often found practicing monologues from his favorite Al Pacino films, combining his love for cinema with storytelling.
