UFC confirms Donald Trump’s plans to have fight at White House in 2026 – The New York Times

MMA
Plans for a UFC fight on the grounds of the White House during the United States’ 250th birthday celebration in 2026 were confirmed to The Athletic by a UFC spokesperson Friday. The confirmation comes one day after President Donald Trump shared the plan to a crowd in Iowa on Thursday.
“We’re going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House,” Trump said. “We have a lot of land there. … We’re going to have a UFC fight, championship fight, full fight.”
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Trump has been a public supporter of the UFC and a friend of its president, Dana White, for decades, with Trump regularly attending fights throughout his presidency. In November, days after being elected to his second term, Trump turned UFC 309 into his personal election celebration, walking out beside White to loud cheers as a sizzle reel played throughout Madison Square Garden. Trump also attended UFC 314 in April and UFC 316 in June.
On Thursday, White reposted a video of Trump’s remarks to Instagram with the caption, “This will be EPIC!!”
According to a White House pool report, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump is “dead serious” about the event. The White House did not respond to a request for comment Friday about how far along those plans are.
Former UFC champion Conor McGregor, who has visited with Trump at the White House and been a public supporter of Trump’s campaigns, wrote on X about his potential involvement that he “would be honoured! Count me in!” McGregor has not fought since 2021 and pulled out of a fight in 2024 with a toe injury.
Sports have long intermingled with events at the White House. Teams have been invited to the building dating back to 1865 when President Andrew Johnson invited two amateur baseball teams, the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Nationals, to the White House after the teams played a game on park grounds nearby. The grounds are now known as The Ellipse and sometimes referred to as President’s Park South.
No professional sporting event has ever been contested on White House grounds, though there have been many recreational events, such as President John F. Kennedy playing touch football in front of the White House in 1962 and President Richard Nixon, an avid bowler, building a one-lane alley beneath the White House in 1973. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower installed a putting green on the South Lawn, and in 1993, President Bill Clinton installed a quarter-mile track on White House grounds.
(Photo: Mandel Ngan / AFP via Getty Images)
Mark Puleo is a News Staff Editor at The Athletic. Before joining The Athletic, Mark covered breaking weather news as a digital journalist and front page digital editor with AccuWeather. He is a graduate of Penn State University and its John Curley Center for Sports Journalism. Follow Mark on Twitter @ByMarkPuleo

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