The UFC is planning to put on an event at the White House over the next year to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, a spokesperson for the TKO Group Holdings property confirmed to SBJ, after President Trump revealed the idea Thursday night.
Speaking to a crowd in Des Moines, Iowa, before the Fourth of July holiday, Trump brought up UFC as he discussed the anniversary celebration that will take place with next year’s Independence Day holiday.
“We’re going to have a UFC fight – think of this – on the grounds of the White House,” Trump said.
The timing for the event is not yet clear. UFC typically holds 12 PPV cards a year -- one each month -- along with a couple of dozen lower-level Fight Night cards.
Asked for comment about Trump’s comments, a UFC spokesperson said Trump’s assertion is accurate and the sides are now studying how to execute such an event.
UFC President and CEO Dana White took to Instagram to respond, posting, “This will be EPIC!!!” over a video clip of Trump’s remarks.
Superstar fighter Conor McGregor, who hasn’t fought in UFC since 2021 but is not technically retired, suggested he might be interested in participating in the event in a post on social media Friday, writing on X: “Excited with President Trump announcing a UFC fight event at the White House. I would be honoured! Count me in!” McGregor visited Trump at the White House on St. Patrick’s Day.
Trump said he wanted to have up to 25,000 people attend the prospective event, though it was unclear how feasible that would be. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was quoted in a press pool dispatch last night as saying that Trump is “dead serious” about the idea.
Holding a fight card on the grounds of the White House would be an unprecedented and remarkable moment of sports business and serve as the latest indicator of how close the relationship is between Trump and White, and how fond Trump is of UFC, which he credits with helping catapult him back into the White House. Trump has attended UFC events last month in Newark and in April in Miami.
White told SBJ last year after Trump was elected that he intended to stay out of politics. White has no formal role with Trump’s administration.
But White retains remarkably close ties to Trump, dining with Trump when the president had a meeting with commentator Bill Maher, and reportedly requesting that Trump help free an imprisoned woman in Russia.
