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It was 2001, and mixed martial arts fighting was on the ropes. Banned in 36 states, booted from cable operators, derided as "human cockfighting" – it was such an outcast sport that it traded hands for $2 million. A song. And the new owners of Ultimate Fighting Championship faced a big challenge. Nobody wanted to host the fights. “When UFC started, people were like, 'Oh my God, this is disgusting and horrible. Oh my God, this is brutal,’” Dana White, who would become UFC president and CEO, told USA TODAY. In came Donald Trump. Long a fan of boxing and often seen ringside in Vegas, heagreed to showcase UFC matches at his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. It was the opening White said he needed when few others would touch it. “Trump was the first guy to give us a shot,” White said. Now, a quarter century later, Trump is set to host one of the most unlikely and controversial UFC fighting events in history: The UFC Freedom 250, a seven-bout event on June 14 timed to Trump’s 80th birthday and the nation’s 250th, fought on the White House’s South Lawn. The $60 million spectacle is the culmination of a decades-long relationship between a president and a sport that harnessed bravado to reach America’s most prominent address. Whether viewed as an entertaining semiquincentennial celebration or an undignified event that only underscores U.S. divides, the fight brings together bare-knuckle brands in politics and sports. It's a metaphor for America’s pugilistic political moment. “Having a giant cage in front of the White House, it's all the moment that we are in,” said Julian Zelizer, a Princeton University political history professor.It speaks, he said, to Trump’s supporters and detractors. “It's in your face politics. He knows this, and he's going to make the spectacle very visible,” Zelizer said. Trump’s combative style rocked the political world during his first bid for the White House in 2016. It has been on full display during his second term as he pushes the boundaries of presidential power and routinely clashes with opponents. The president’s close association with UFC – which started with the tagline: “There are no rules” ‒ offers a window into his own polarizing, no-holds-barred approach. And it tapped into a tranche of young male voters drawn to it. Allies are eager to describe Trump as a “fighter,” and the White House UFC event could help him further cultivate that image, even as critics accuse him of abusing his power and degrading the office. The 8 p.m. June 14 event, to be watched by 4,300 people in the temporary arena, by thousands more on large screens at a parkacross the street and streamed by subscription onParamount+, exposes the sport to a wider audience than ever before. Temporary UFC arena built on White House South Lawn for Freedom 250Construction begins on a White House South Lawn arena for UFC Freedom 250 with 5,000 invited guests.From 'human cockfighting' to White House showcase It began as an idea voiced over a roaring crowd at Madison Square Garden. In November 2024, Trump had just won a bruising campaign that cemented his comeback and returned him to the seat of American power. He’d come to see the mixed martial arts fighters trade blows in the ring, called the Octagon. At one point, Trump leaned over to White who sat next to him. “You know what, we should do a fight at the White House,” White recalled Trump saying. White quickly agreed. But making it happen would be a logistical “beast.” Trump’s pitch came at a time when mixed martial arts had fought its way into the mainstream. Gone were the days of pressure from the late Sen. John McCain, who in 1996 had decried no-holds-barred cage matches as "human cockfighting” and helped push it to the fringes. After White persuaded casino moguls Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta to buy the financially teetering Ultimate Fighting Championship, the sport’s main promotion company, he faced an uphill battle to find a place to host fights – the point where Trump first helped. “Venues did not want this thing,” White said. “They used to think, ‘What kind of people will show up to an event like this? We don't want them here at our place.'"But it was also the political pressure that pushed the UFC adopt to new rules, such as introducing five-minute rounds and weight classes, that lead to greater acceptance. By 2007, McCain acknowledged they had “cleaned up the sport to the point, at least in my view, where it is not human cockfighting anymore.’’ Over the years, the sport rose in popularity and acceptance as it marched further into the mainstream. In 2016, the Fertitta brothers sold their UFC stake for about $4 billion. This year, Paramount+ paid more than $7 billion for UFC streaming rights. When UFC fights moved to larger venues, Trump followed, watching fights and becoming a friend, White said. In 2019, Trump became the first sitting president to attend a UFC fight. It was a place he clearly felt at home. In June 2024, shortly after he was convicted of falsifying business records to hide hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, Trump made his first public appearance at a UFC fight in Newark, New Jersey – to a roaring ovation. The president stillregularly attends UFC fights. As recently as April, in Miami, he mingled ringside with White, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and rapper Vanilla Ice.Trump routinely watches televised matches from the presidential residence or Air Force One when he's traveling, a White House official said, and knows many of the fighters, describing his knowledge of UFC as expert level. In May, Trump “was texting me all night” about fights, White recalled. 'He’s going to hit you twice'That Trump formed a tight relationship with UFC shouldn’t be surprising. The man and the sport are “identical” in their approach, said Trump biographer Gwenda Blair: The only prohibitions in the first UFC match were against biting, eye gouges and groin hits. “The Venn diagram here is one circle on top of another circle,” Blair said. The sport is rooted in doing whatever it takes to win. It’s an approach Trump has mirrored throughout his life, said Blair, starting as an aggressive kid who was sent to military school and evolving into a cutthroat businessman and politician, famous for telling people they’re fired on television. “Winning at all costs is what matters,” Blair said. A self-described “big sports fan,” Trump has particularly embraced the spectacle of combat sports. He was staging boxing matches at his Atlantic City properties starting in the 1980s, before partnering with the UFC, andhas long been involved with professional wrestling. He even entered the ring.Former GOP House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has attended a UFC event with the president, said the Octagon matches Trump’s political style. “If anybody hits him, he’s going to hit you twice,” McCarthy said. Trump drafted UFC and World Wresting Entertainment leaders into his administration. Linda McMahon, WWE’s former CEO, is now Trump’s education secretary. Trump communications director Steven Cheung is a former UFC spokesman. FBI Director Kash Patel announced the agency was bringing UFC fighters to offer an instruction seminar at the FBI Special Agent Academy. An entertainer before he became president, Trump prizes showmanship and has long cultivated an image of strength.He staged a massive military parade in Washington, DC, on his birthday last year. Soldiers in uniform will be in the crowd at the White House UFC fight, and the Pentagon has said they must be in good shape. The president displayed a UFC championship belt at his desk in the Oval Office recently as fighters stood behind him to hype the event. The UFC event is “an attempt to project masculinity and strength,” said University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said. Trump didn’t serve in the military, receiving multiple draft deferments during the Vietnam War. “I’m convinced a lot of things go back to the fact that he’s a multiple draft evader,” Sabato said. Fueled by testosterone Trump’s aggressive approach has twice delivered him the presidency, while also roiling the country as he blows past established norms, tests legal boundaries and ruthlessly attacks opponents. The president’s instinct to go for the jugular was on display in his first campaign, when he was written off early on as an entertainer but found success with brutal takedowns. He tagged rivals with nicknames, such as “low energy” Jeb, “lyin’ Ted,” “liddle Marco” and “crooked Hillary.” White was there by his side from the beginning, the fight promoter championing his fighter. Taking the stage at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in 2016, White declared: “I know fighters. Ladies and gentlemen, Donald Trump is a fighter, and I know he will fight for this country.” During his 11-year run atop American politics, Trump has clashed with everyone from the pope to the family of a fallen soldier. He even celebrated the deathof former special counsel Robert Mueller, who investigated Russian ties to Trump’s 2016 campaign. “He never misses the opportunity to push the sword in all the way,” Sabato, the political scientist, said. Sean Spicer, who had a tumultuous stint as White House press secretary before resigning six months into Trump’s first term, said combativeness is central to Trump’s “brand of politics.” Associating with UFC adds to that smash-mouth image and may have helped Trump make inroads with the sport’s largely younger male audience – a group that powered his 2024 victory. Trump won 56% of male voters age 18 to 29 in the 2024 election, up from 41% in 2020, according to an analysis of exit polling by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. "Abig part of the reason that Trump won was testosterone,” NYU professor Scott Galloway Galloway said on his podcast Raging Moderates. The president has sparked intense backlash in his second term, as his bulldozer approach carries over into policymaking. For some, the White House UFC fight is symbolic of a president who doesn’t play by any rules. 'Norms and standards don’t matter anymore'Since returning to office, Trump has shaken the American political system with a series of contentious moves: overhauling federal agencies, levying steep tariffs, instituting mass deportations, deploying the National Guard in the streets of major cities and launching military campaigns abroad. He often bypassesCongress and blows past guardrails. The actions thrilled the president’s MAGA base, but have been controversial, with Democrats calling Trump an authoritarian. Then there were his efforts to rename the Kennedy Center, the demolition of the East Wing for a ballroom and banners with his likeness hung on government buildings. Some critics view gladiatorial displays of violence as inappropriate for a historic anniversary and complain that the spectacle hits a discordant note amid war in Iran and rising prices. “Could he be more out of touch?" California Sen. Adam Schiff wrote of Trump on X. Trump can "walk and chew gum" at the same time as he hosts the fight while "working tirelessly on behalf of the American people to lower costs for everyday citizens," White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.On an episode of thepodcast "Raging Moderates," commentator Jessica Tarlov called it “gross” and a sign Trump views the White House as “just another casino.” But Galloway, the cohost, said displaying “performative masculinity” at the White House was politically “smart” for Trump. “The UFC fight is part and parcel of everything else, that he's decided that norms and standards don't matter anymore,” said Edward Lengel, chief historian of the White House Historical Association from 2016 to 2018. President Theodore Roosevelt built a tennis court at the White House. Barack Obama turned it into a basketball court. Jimmy Carter invited Peggy Flemming to skate at the White House. What Trump is doing is “unprecedented,” Lengel said. Lengel, a self-described conservative whose father was a boxer, said he sees nothing wrong with mixed martial arts fighting. However, “It doesn't belong at the White House,” he said. Organizers and fighters have tried to downplay the political backdrop and instead to link it to Americans’ fighting spirit. “Whether you like (Trump) or not, this is about the 250th birthday of America,” White said. Kyle Daukus, a participant, said he hopes the event draws new viewers to the sport who will look beyond its “brutal” nature and see its diverse rootsin martial arts. That includes disciplines such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, wrestling and judo. “I'm not here to kind of push any of my political views or anything like that. I'm just here to go out there and fight,” Daukus said. 'Buckle up'However people feel about the event, it is certain to be a major spectacle. UFC executive Craig Bosari, who is overseeing production, said the idea to place a UFC Octagon that typically weighs 25,000-pounds, along with stands on the sloping South Lawn initially made his head spin. Every worker had to go through Secret Service background checks – so did the fighters. “You can't pick a more logistically challenging location to put on any event,” he said. They designed a roughly 90-foot-tall “claw,” built in Belgium, to arch over the Octagon for lighting and visibility. Trump's daughter Ivanka was involved in the planning, White said, and first lady Melania Trump limited work hours “because her bedroom is like right there.” The grounds and lawn will be restored when the fight is over. The UFC has said it, not taxpayers, is fully funding the event and does not expect to profit. But it will get a huge promotional boost. The president’s May financial disclosure reported that his trust purchased between $15,001 and $50,000 worth of stock in TKO Group Holdings Inc, the parent company of UFC, in March. Vice President JD Vance told reporters that Trump doesn’t make his own trades. Security will include uniformed officers, specialized police units, military support teams withintelligence and counter-surveillance capabilities, plainclothes federal agents and tactical response teams, said Andrew Guglielmi, the Secret Service communications chief. Trump has spent weeks publicizing the event and the White House is touting it on social media. The White House in a post on X adopted the ringside announcer’s language of the fighting style Trump has wrapped himself in. Buckle up, the post said. It’s about to go down. Zac Anderson is a White House correspondent chronicling President Donald Trump, GOP politics and the MAGA movement. Follow him on X: @zacjandersonChris Kenning is a national correspondent who writes wide-ranging enterprise stories from across the country. Follow him on X: @chris_kenning
