The lightning did not strike. The June night – the 14th, 2026, for the record, marking 80 years in the life of Donald J Trump – brewed with the hot, treacly intimations of a storm but the birthday boy’s luck held, as it always holds, so even though the sky turned purple, the guests sitting on the South Lawn of the White House remained dry as they sat in their finery to watch the premier cage-fighters in the game go at it on the front lawn.“Human cockfighting” was the damning dismissal handed to UFC by the late John McCain, the Republican who ran against Barack Obama in 2008. It was a condemnation that Dana White, who guided the mixed-martial-arts cult from notoriety to the mainstream, has never forgotten. This night marked a full circle moment for White, whose long friendship with Trump culminated in this strange circus: a seven-card fight under the banner of UFC Freedom 250 in front of America’s most sacred building.As ever with Trump, the event has caused a deep and profound division among Americans. To many millions, the mere thought of what is a highly commercial and highly violent combat sport on the front lawn of the White House was nothing short of a grotesquerie. On Saturday, the UFC had temporarily appropriated the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to conduct a press conference, filled with testosterone grunts and threats, while the marble version of Honest Abe sat behind them. The entire weekend was a breathtakingly strange and typically Trumpian combination of heavy patriotic symbolism, commercialism and a faint sense of walking through someone else’s dream.“It’s surreal,” proclaimed Joe Rogan, the influential podcaster and long-time UFC advocate, on the official broadcast.“It’s so amazing. The energy is in the air. We’re outside. We thought it might be called for rain but we’re good. The whole thing is nuts.”Fireworks go off ahead of the final bout during the UFC Freedom 250 mixed martial arts event on the South Lawn of the White House. Photograph: Saul Loeb/Getty Images It was a bit, not least because Trump had dashed off yet another social media post proclaiming that “The Deal with the Islamic Republic is now complete” – a birthday present to the world in general.“Congratulations to all!” he encouraged before claiming to have authorised the “toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz”.“Ships of the world, start your engines!” he wrote, invoking the old UFC chant.Whatever about cake and bubbles, the guests were treated to a parade of extremely ripped cage fighters who emerged from the Truman balcony; walked through the strobe lights and red, white and blue lights of that transformed South Lawn; strip down to their gladiator shorts; and go mano a mano in the Octagon. After a meaty version of the Star Spangled Banner, a military flyover. The 600-tonne claw that framed the White House flashed the colours of the US and dominated the imperious architecture of downtown Washington. Some 5,000 guests were on the South Lawn, surrounding the cage. Another 20,000 UFC fans were clustered on the Ellipse, the big green area directly behind the White House. Dylan Patterson flew up from Tennessee with two friends of his. “I got two buddies in Washington in the army and they got us tickets,” he said. Dylan Patterson: "Just the most American thing I’ve seen.” Photograph: Keith Duggan “This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. I don’t want to make it political at all. But last night was the most American thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. They shot off fireworks behind the Monument singing Born In the USA. Just the most American thing I’ve seen.”Patterson cradled his beer and gave a low chuckle when asked if he was here to celebrate the big birthday also.“I’m here for the event. Trump turning 80 ... he’s doing an okay job but politicians, either party, they don’t care about the middle man. You make less than a million a year and they don’t care about you.“Hear me out,” he continues. “Liberals are pushing for healthcare for everybody. I agree with healthcare for everybody. If you can pass a drug test. And if you can prove you are a citizen. It should be an American right to have healthcare for everybody. Why do I want to pay for you to go to the doctor if you are going to get high on cocaine all day? Now, weed’s a little different. I don’t smoke weed. But weed’s a little different. But we need to get somebody in office who doesn’t care about inside. I don’t know who that is. We all thought it was Trump at first. That’s why every Republican voted for Trump – because he was not a politician. And he has become one. So bad. You need someone to run for office who doesn’t care about money.”US president Donald Trump gestures as he attends UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House. Photograph: Evan Vucci/Reuters/Bloomberg You didn’t have to spend very long at the Ellipse to appreciate that the event was extraordinarily well orchestrated and presented. White managed to combine the kitschier elements of wrestling with the bloodlust promise of boxing to create, in two decades, a hybrid fight game that has had a narcotic pull for many young men – and a huge international streaming audience. Sunday’s event was broadcast live on Paramount, the subscription wing of the old movie giant. Just two days ago, the US department of justice approved the acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery by Paramount Skydance, edging out the counter bid by Netflix. The deal has caused deep unease within Hollywood, and places CNN, the news channel the Trump administration deems hostile, under the ownership of the Ellison family. David Ellison, the CEO of Skydance Paramount, was listed among the guests expected to attend here. But the $60 million showpiece – and the president’s 80th birthday evening – attracted very few celebrities, with a long list of rumoured guests just not there.Donald Trump (R) watches the lightweight title bout between Georgia's Ilia Topuria and America's Justin Gaethje. Photograph: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Imagee With July 4th, the official 250th anniversary date, fast approaching, the Sunday night fight event at the White House was an unforgettable visual presentation of just how radically Trump has altered the perception of what it is to be an American president.Down at the Ellipse, Blake Marnell was another visitor to town. Over the years, Marnell, from San Diego, has become a campaign-rally favourite of Trump after showing up across the country in his tailored brick-wall suit. But on this evening, he was clad in a red T-shirt.“It’s not really a presidential event,” he explained.Blake Marnell. "It’s a singular event. And I wanted to be there to see it happen." Photograph: Keith Duggan “Dana White is an out-of-the-box thinker, as is President Trump. It will never happen again. It’s a singular event. And I wanted to be there to see it happen.”I remind Marnell that I’d first met him on a frozen night in Des Moines in the very early days of Trump’s re-election campaign. He says he’s still all in and fairly happy with the path Trump has taken the country. Asked about what the United States can do to alter its course of an evenly split and hopelessly divided electorate, Marnell thinks for a moment. On stage, the US Army Band Downrange were giving Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine everything they’d got – which was lots – and in the syrupy heat, the crowd sang along.“A lot of people blame President Trump for creating the division,” Marnell said. “My standpoint is that the division was always there. And it’s a lot like if you have a wooden table that’s dusty and if you throw water on it, you see the grain. President Trump – his presidency and advocacy for America First – has brought people who want open borders and illegal immigration into clear focus. That was always there. “I think the way forward is more people realising that for the longest time both wings of the party were at the same thing – bring in lots of foreign individuals for cheap labour, support foreign governments over the US. I am hopeful that Independents will break Republican again in 2026 and 2028. Trump is still working circles around what Joe Biden was capable of. Nobody goes on forever. But I don’t see him slowing down in a way that I am worried about.”Photograph: Alex Brandon/AFP/Getty Images