The United States of America will celebrate its 250th birthday on July 4, 2026. And to mark the occasion, a first fight night will be held at the presidential residence, the White House.
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Confirming this, the Ultimate Fighting Championship chief executive Dana White said he spoke to US President Donald Trump about the cage fight on Monday night. White added he plans to meet Trump and his daughter Ivanka at the end of this month to finalise the logistics. “It is definitely going to happen,” White told CBS. “Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House South Lawn live on CBS.”
The American network reported that a ‘source familiar with the planning confirmed that the White House expected the event to happen’.
“When he called me and asked me to do it, he said, ‘I want Ivanka in the middle of this,’” White was quoted as saying. “So Ivanka reached out to me, and her and I started talking about the possibilities, where it would be and, you know, I put together all the renderings.”
White’s comments came a month after Trump, a UFC enthusiast, first showed interest in hosting a fight at the White House. “We have a lot of land there,” said Trump, who is a regular at mixed martial arts events. “Think of this on the grounds of the White House,” he said, according to ESPN, adding that it would be a ‘full fight’ with 20,000 to 25,000 people.
Former UFC champion Conor McGregor, who has not fought in UFC since July 2021, expressed his interest in the White House fight, writing on social media after Trump’s remarks last month: ‘Count me in!’
White’s announcement came after the UFC finalised a seven-year streaming deal with Paramount worth an average of $1.1 billion annually.
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