Talk of having a UFC event at the White House, sparked by a comment from United States President Donald Trump, has turned into action, with White House officials and UFC execs seemingly hammering out a deal for the event to take place.
The news was confirmed by UFC CEO and President Dana White in a live video posted Thursday night, where he revealed he was on his way back to Las Vegas from Washington DC having secured the necessary agreements for the event to go ahead.
“It was a great day. I’m about to take off here from Washington, DC,” White said.
“The White House fight is on. I will have more details on that in the next couple weeks. We got it done today.”
Most of the discussion around the event wasn’t so much about whether it could feasibly take place, but instead centred on who might feature on the fight card. Both Jon Jones and Conor McGregor – the former, who had announced his retirement, and the latter, who hasn’t been seen in the UFC’s Octagon since the summer of 2021 – have expressed a desire to return to action at that event, with White stating that he trusted McGregor to show up more than he did Jones. The UFC boss even went as far as to say that the odds of Jones’ participation were “a billion-to-one”.
Now, with the event seemingly locked in for July 4 next year, speculation over who will feature on the fight card will go into overdrive. But, with 10 months to go until the event, a lot can, and will, happen in MMA, so it’s unlikely that a full lineup will be confirmed until sometime in early 2026.
But, with longtime friends Trump and White on opposite sides of the table, it seems it didn’t take too long for a suitable deal to be made, and another historic UFC event looks set to join previous ground-breaking events at Madison Square Garden (UFC 205), and Sphere (UFC 306), as well as their response to the COVID-19 pandemic by establishing “Fight Island” on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.
It also represents something of a full-circle moment, with Trump providing the venue for the first UFC event under the ownership of Zuffa, and Dana White’s management. That event, UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk, took place on February 23, 2001 at the Trump Taj Mahal (now the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino) in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Now Trump will provide the venue for White and the UFC once again, only this time it won’t be in a casino. It will be at the home of the President of the United States.
