UFC will host a fight event at the White House Obviously it will be on July 4th

Here we go. The UFC will hold an event at the White House. The news had been circulating for weeks, but now the official confirmation has come on Thursday from the promotion’s president, Dana White, after a meeting held in Washington. White did not provide an official date, but the UFC’s idea is to organize the event on July 4, 2026, to coincide with the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Independence. The promoter of the event is, of course, the President of the United States himself, Donald Trump, a big UFC fan who, as recently as last June, was in the front row for UFC 316 and received tributes from the fighters at the end of their respective bouts.

The relationship between Donald Trump and Dana White dates back to the early 2000s, when Trump hosted the promotion’s first events at the Trump Taj Mahal, the casino Trump opened in 1990 in Atlantic City and which, after its 2016 bankruptcy, reopened under the name Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City. White has never hidden his friendship with Trump, emphasizing how he was one of the first to believe in the promotion’s potential. Since then, the relationship has continued through ups and downs, with White in 2016 giving a speech at the Republican convention that formalized Donald Trump’s candidacy for President of the United States, which then became his first term—an operation repeated in 2024 at Madison Square Garden in New York during an event organized by Trump a few days before the elections. Additionally, on November 5, White also gave a speech during the celebrations for Donald Trump’s re-election.

Trump, in turn, has used the UFC to relaunch his national image after the riots of January 6, 2021. Specifically, he leveraged the UFC 302 event to launch his official TikTok profile, which later became central to his election campaign pitting him against Kamala Harris. Now comes a new chapter, with the UFC officially entering the White House with an event that, according to Trump himself, could host up to 25,000 people based on renderings presented to him by his daughter Ivanka. A statement that, given it’s Trump, could be truth, exaggeration, or utopia. After all, there are significant bureaucratic and logistical aspects, such as the need to build an octagonal arena complete with stands in the courtyard of the symbol of the United States to the world. An aspect that obviously does not scare Trump, who is on the front lines for a complete White House rebranding, including a $200 million project to renovate the ballroom.

Potentially we are looking at the most exclusive sporting event ever, with ticket demand likely to break every possible record. A new victory for Trump in his policy of domestic soft power, in which sport has become central. After spending his first term fending off NBA players’ protests and urging NFL franchise owners to boycott any player who kneeled during the national anthem, Trump is now experiencing a surprising renaissance. First came the bromance with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, which began with the Club World Cup and continued with the decision to move the 2026 World Cup draw from Las Vegas to Washington. Then his proposal to organize hockey games involving NHL and KHL players as part of relations with Vladimir Putin. Then his presence at the Daytona 500, the quintessential NASCAR event, where he led the pace lap. And never mind the embarrassing episodes, such as discussing a missile strike against Iran while Juventus players were with him in the Oval Office. Or his threat to block the construction of a new NFL arena until the Washington Commanders revert to being the Washington Redskins, a name abandoned for racial reasons in 2020. Whereas Trump was previously the enemy of sportspeople, the resistance front is no longer so united and more and more federations are seeking Trump's friendship.