The Associated Press reported that UFC is bringing a mixed martial arts “cage-match” show to the White House in the coming weeks, with event planners erecting a 6-foot wire-mesh fence shaped into an octagon on the lawn. AP said the June 14 event will be timed for President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and is also set as part of the United States’ 250th anniversary.
AP reported that the show is scheduled for June 14 and will feature fighters competing in a format that includes kickboxing, jiujitsu and wrestling, among other martial arts. The report also said UFC’s production plans include multiple screens for ticket-holders, with Trump telling podcast host Logan Paul that Dana White would build a 5,000-seat arena outside the front door of the White House.
According to AP, Trump has spoken about the appeal of fighting in personal terms, including telling Logan Paul, “I have respect for fighters, you know, when you can take 200 shots to the face and then look forward to the second round.” The AP story also noted that Trump attended a UFC event in 2019—described as the first time a sitting president went to a UFC show—where a fight was stopped after a cut over a fighter’s eye led to blood pouring down the fighter’s face.
AP also quoted veteran MMA referee and commentator “Big John” McCarthy on why he sees the sport as technical rather than purely emotional, saying, “A lot of people don’t understand fighting and they think fighting is about anger. It’s not.” McCarthy added, “Fighting is about technique and style, and understanding how to make your opponent make mistakes while you don’t,” and AP reported that he also said of Trump, “I totally understand why he likes it. Because I do.”
AP said UFC is planning to issue 85,000 free tickets for the event and that it will be broadcast live on Paramount+, which is controlled by the Ellison family. The AP story said the event falls on a Sunday rather than UFC’s usual Saturday-night time slot, and that France pushed back the Group of Seven summit it is hosting so it would not conflict with Trump’s birthday festivities.
The AP report described criticism of the fight card ahead of the event. It said fans online have panned the lineup for missing high-profile fighters, including former two-division champion Jon Jones, who requested his release from UFC after being excluded from the White House show. AP also said Conor McGregor is not scheduled to appear, even though the report noted his first bout since 2021 would have been a major moment for the sport.
AP said Ronda Rousey, a former UFC champion, criticized the event and told AP she was preparing her own MMA comeback outside the UFC because she believes the promotion would not meet her financial expectations. AP quoted Rousey saying the White House show “fell extremely short of expectations,” and it reported that UFC did not respond to requests for comment on the criticism. Instead, the White House communications director Steven Cheung was quoted by AP as saying the event “will be one of the greatest and most historic sports events in history,” and Cheung also described it as a “testament to his vision to celebrate America’s monumental 250th anniversary.”
AP reported that while the card was still being finalized, it includes two championship fights. It said Alex Periera of Brazil will meet France’s Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title, and it said Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria will take on interim champion Justin Gaethje, identified by AP as one of the two Americans holding even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.
Beyond the fights themselves, AP said the arrangement reflects how UFC has become a mass-audience brand. The report said a historian and former MMA journalist, Patrick Wyman, traced UFC’s modern rise to ESPN media-rights deal signed in 2018 and said the league has prioritized building the brand over individual fighters. AP also reported Wyman’s view that UFC’s popularity overlaps with demographic groups already more likely to support Trump, and Wyman said the White House event encapsulated “the way that Donald Trump thinks about politics,” citing its “transactional nature” and what he described as how difficult it is to draw firm lines between business and politics.
AP said Trump has used sports events as part of his political messaging and that his campaign has leveraged UFC-related moments, including after his election victory when Trump appeared publicly with House Speaker Mike Johnson and others at a UFC fight. AP also reported that after Trump’s conviction in a hush money case in June 2024, he went to a UFC bout in New Jersey and that campaign materials used footage of crowds there to support its TikTok account, AP reported.
The Associated Press reported that UFC will use the White House site and its communications apparatus for the event but that a UFC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.