Joe Rogan Makes Bold Declaration About UFC Freedom 250

The UFC Freedom 250 card was billed as being one of the most entertaining in events in company history, and it didn't disappoint.

Every one of the seven fights ended with a finish - six by way of TKO and one by knockout - including the main event where Justin Gaethje pulled one of the biggest upsets in the sport's history by retiring undefeated lightweight champion Ilia Topuria on his stool at the end of the fourth round.

Gaethje and heavyweight champion Ciryl Gane both pocketed $425,000 Performance of the Night bonuses, while Gaethje and Topuria earned another $400,000 for Fight of the Night honors.

Fans were buzzing immediately after the card concluded, and color commentator Joe Rogan offered one of the boldest takes of the night when discussing where Freedom 250 ranked among the promotion's top events.

"This is the greatest night in the history of combat sports, and the greatest night in the history of MMA by far," Rogan said on the post-fight broadcast. "There’s nothing that’s ever going to top this until something does."

Retired heavyweight champion and fellow broadcaster Daniel Cormier shared the same sentiment.

"I don’t think anything is ever going to top this," Cormier agreed. "I keep sitting back going, ‘Wow,' like, literally saying ‘Wow.' When you’ve seen so much in your life, to sit their going wow, wow, wow after watching this, and all night we said if there’s a setting for an American fighter to just spring the greatest upset that we’ve seen in a long time, tonight’s the night."

To Rogan and Cormier's point, Freedom 250 is the only card in UFC history to have every fight end with a knockout or TKO. It's also the second card ever to have every fight end with a finish (zero decisions), joining UFC Fight Night: Rockhold vs. Bisping back in 2014.

In addition to Gaethje's fourth-round stoppage win over Topuria, Gane defeated Alex Pereira via second-round TKO to claim the interim heavyweight championship, Sean O'Malley TKO'd Aiemann Zahabi in Round 2, Josh Hokit toppled Derrick Lewis via second-round TKO in their heavyweight tilt, Mauricio Ruffy beat Michael Chandler via first-round TKO, Bo Nickal knocked off Kyle Daukaus by first-round TKO, and Diego Lopes defeated Steve Garcia via second-round knockout.

As for whether or not Freedom 250 is the greatest combat sports card ever, UFC 306 at the Sphere in Las Vegas set the bar pretty high.

That card featured a bantamweight title victory for Merab Dvalishvili over O'Malley and a women's flyweight title victory for Valentina Shevchenko over Alexa Grasso. The event drew the largest gate in UFC history ($21.82 million), setting an awfully high benchmark for Freedom 250 to hit.

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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 3:55 PM.