UFC confirms it's planning White House fight card after President Trump proposes idea
A day after President Donald Trump floated the idea of hosting a UFC fight on the grounds of the White House, the promotion confirmed to NBC News that it plans to hold such an event next year. The card would be part of the government's America250 celebration of the United States' 250th birthday.
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UFC CEO Dana White made his own commentary on Instagram, writing "This will be epic!!!" White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had a similar statement on X, and reportedly said Trump was "dead serious" about the idea.
The most notable volunteer among fighters was Conor McGregor, who has not competed in the UFC since 2021 but visited Trump at the White House in March, months after being found liable for rape in a case that ended a number of business relationships. The Irishman, who turns 37 this month, said "I would be honoured! Count me in!"
As far as the scale of the event, Trump suggested a venue that could hold upward of 20,000 fans:
"We're going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there, we're going to build — we're not, Dana's going to do it. Dana's great, one of a kind. We're going to have a UFC fight — championship fight, full fight. Like 20, 25 thousand people.
"We're going to that as part of 250, also. We're going to have some professional events, some amateur events, but the UFC fight is going to be a big deal too."
The event would be the first professional sporting event hosted at the White House in U.S. history, though there have been many recreational events.
President Donald Trump and the UFC's Dana White apparently have a fight card in the works. (Photo by FRANK FRANKLIN II/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(FRANK FRANKLIN II via Getty Images)
Such a spectacle would be the culmination of a decades-long relationship between White and Trump, who hosted multiple UFC events for the promotion at a rocky time in its early history. The president is a frequent attendee of major UFC events, where he usually receives a warm reception from the sport's right-leaning fanbase.
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White has also appeared at multiple events for Trump, such as introducing him at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Their private conversations have also come up in the past, such as when Trump said he proposed a UFC-style league just for migrants to White.
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