UFC CEO Dana White appeared to confirm that UFC will head to the White House next year.
Last month, President Donald Trump announced that he wanted the White House to host a UFC match on July 4, 2026, for the country’s 250th birthday.
“We’re going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House,” Trump said, per the BBC. “We have a lot of land there.”
White spoke to The Associated Press this week about the plans for the fight.
“It’s absolutely going to happen,” White said. “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.”
White will meet with the president and his daughter Ivanka on August 28 “to catch up and discuss logistics” for the fight, per AP.
“When he called me and asked me to do it, he said: ‘I want Ivanka in the middle of this,’” White said, per BBC. “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.”
In his announcement, the president stated he expects 20,000 to 25,000 spectators to attend, according to ESPN.
Several UFC fighters are interested in fighting in the event, per White.
“Everybody wants to fight this fight,” he told Happy Punch.
Trump has already attended two UFC events since his inauguration earlier this year.
In July, he also spoke with Derrick Lewis on the phone immediately after he won a heavyweight contest, as the Deseret News previously reported. Lewis was still on the phone while he was declared the winner.
UFC’s billion dollar deal with Paramount
White’s comments came days after UFC finalized a massive new media rights deal with Paramount.
The seven-year deal will go into effect after UFC’s current deal with ESPN expires at the end of this year.
The deal “has an average annual value of $1.1 billion,” AP reported. All UFC content will also be available on the network’s streaming platform, Paramount+.
“This historic deal with Paramount and CBS is incredible for UFC fans and our athletes. For the first time ever, fans in the U.S. will have access to all UFC content without a pay-per-view model, making it more affordable and accessible to view the greatest fights on a massive platform,” White said on X.