On June 14, President Donald Trump will celebrate both his 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding with the country’s greatest spectacle: several hours of undoubtedly bloody cage fights on the White House’s South Lawn.
The event is the culmination of a long relationship between Trump and the UFC’s president, American businessman Dana White. White, who recently told Rolling Stone that he was “right down the middle” politically, has been a staunch ally of the president for Trump’s entire political career. Trump, in turn, has been both Dana White and the sport of MMA’s biggest fan for decades.
“Everyone has their thing, and Donald Trump’s thing is the UFC,” White told Rolling Stone.
In recent years, the UFC’s rising popularity has helped White establish something of a chokehold on American culture, as his sport is integral to the increasingly right-leaning “manosphere.” MMA now sits at the nexus of American politics and culture. A fight at the heart of the capital, then, was almost inevitable — all Donald Trump had to do is ask.
Rolling Stone will be at the fights in June, but until then, here’s everything we know.
Why is the White House hosting a UFC event?
In short, because Donald Trump asked them to. Plans for a UFC event at the White House started about a year ago, when Trump privately suggested to White that they hold an event in D.C. White described it as an offhand comment while both men were sitting cageside at an event in South Florida, but it quickly became a reality as preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding ramped up.
The longer answer is a bit more complicated. White and Trump have been friends since the early 2000s, when Trump allowed White to host several of his first UFC events at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Trump also became a huge fan of the sport, sitting cage-side for every fight during those first few events.
The two men’s relationship deepened when White agreed to introduce Trump at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
“When he first called me [in 2015], he said, ‘Listen, if you don’t want to do this, I completely understand, but I’d be honored if you’d speak for me at the Republican convention,’” White told us during the Rolling Stone Interview. “Everybody told me not to do it. The two reasons were, number one, you don’t want to get anywhere near politics, and number two, he’s never going to win.”
Since that moment, the UFC has grown into a major cultural force in America. In the run-up to the 2024 election, White personally put his thumb on the scale for Trump, utilizing contacts in new media spaces like podcasting and social media to help Trump get in front of a new demographic of younger voters. White facilitated Trump’s appearances on Theo Von’s podcast, the Nelk Boys channels, various Barstool Sports podcasts and, of course, The Joe Rogan Experience. It worked, of course: Trump was elected to a second term, and celebrated his victory at a blowout UFC event at Madison Square Garden a few days after the election.
But the real reason for the White House event is a little more personal. Trump loves the UFC. Throughout his career, UFC events have been safe spaces for him — he’s always introduced to a standing ovation, and rarely has to contend with the boos or jeers that sometimes dog him at other sporting events. Trump is always looking to put his own stamp on world events, so it makes sense that he’d want to bring a spectacle that is intricately linked with his own rise to the America 250 celebrations in the capital.
Who is fighting?
The fight card is both exciting and a little bit bizarre. There are some huge names on there, but also some last-minute additions as well as Trump’s personal favorite fighter, Derrick Lewis.
Here’s the full card.
Main event: Ilia Topuria vs Justin Gaethje for the Lightweight Championship
Co-main: Alex Pereira vs Ciryl Gan for the Heavyweight Interim Championship
Sean O’Malley vs. Aiemann Zahabi at Bantamweight
Josh Hokit vs. Derrick Lewis at Heavyweight
Mauricio Ruffy vs. Michael Chandler at Lightweight
Bo Nickal vs. Kyle Daukaus at Middleweight
Diego Lopes vs. Steve Garcia at Featherweight
The lineup leans heavily towards fighters like Bo Nickal, Josh Hokit, and Michael Chandler, all of whom have publicly said they support the president. Chandler famously fought in the co-main event at the Madison Square Garden event right after Trump’s election.
What has Trump said about the event?
Trump seems stoked. In May, the president hosted the four fighters competing in the two main-event fights in the Oval Office.
“As you know, June 14th. We’re having a big fight,” Trump said. “It’s never gonna happen again. Never happened before. And it’s all of the best fighters, best four fighters standing right behind me, and all champions. And it is gonna happen right in front of the White House.”
“These are real warriors,” he said of the fighters behind him. “They really love the sport,” he continued later. “They come out of a ring, the most incredible fight you’ve ever seen. And they say this is the greatest sport … you know, I’d rather sink a three-footer personally. But there’s no better thing to watch than this.”
Trump’s love for bloodsport is genuine. He shows up to UFC fights consistently in both Florida and New York, and he’ll be completely in his element during the June 14 event.
What has the UFC said about the event?
The funny thing about the White House event is how much was left up to the UFC. In the Rolling Stone Interview, White described how the event came to be:
“We’re at a fight, and he looks at me in the middle of the fight and says, ‘You know what? We should do a fight at the White House.’ And I’m like, ‘Yes, you should do a fight at the White House.’ White said. “I don’t know if you’ll ever meet anybody more proud of the White House than he is. He absolutely loves that place and he feels like it’s America’s house, and we should do things where more people can come to the White House and be able to experience it.”
But after that, it was sort of the UFC’s show. The company is allegedly footing the bill for the show itself — tickets are free, but spots on the South Lawn itself are one of the hottest invites in Washington. Behind the scenes, Republican lawmakers and bigwig conservative donors are jockeying for a limited number of seats. White thinks that Trump might actually regret causing such a stir — but that no matter what, the show must go on.
“To have the opportunity to fight at the White House — we’re in,” White said. “[With everything going on,] he probably wishes he didn’t say that to me. But again, we’re in. It’s happening. Everything’s in motion. He’s never said anything to me like that, but this guy’s dealing with shit that people like you and I can’t even imagine and don’t want to.”What does the stage look like?
The physical venue for the fight is perhaps one of the most controversial aspects of the entire event. UFC fights require a substantial amount of infrastructure to hold both the octagon cage and the lighting and camera rigs needed for a broadcast. To accommodate that on the open-air South Lawn, White has had a massive arch constructed in Pennsylvania and shipped to D.C., which is now going in place over the lawn, right next to Trump’s half-destroyed East Wing, future site of the White House ballroom.
The South Lawn will only hold about 4,000 fans. Sponsorship packages for those seats (which are “technically free,”) are reportedly going for as much as $1.5 million for a ringside view.
Everyone else, meanwhile, will be in the Ellipse, across the street from the South Lawn, where the UFC plans to have a massive watch party. Attendees won’t be able to see the fight in person, but they’ll be in a makeshift arena watching on jumbotrons. The UFC will also host a free “fan fest” event the day before the fights, Saturday, June 13. Fans won’t have to pay for either of those experiences, but they will need tickets, which have already mostly been claimed online. For those not in Washington, the fights will stream on Paramount+, which acquired the exclusive rights to stream the UFC in a massive, $7.7 billion deal last August. Trump-friendly David Ellison bought Paramount just weeks before locking down the UFC for the next seven years.
The event’s press conference will take place at the Lincoln Memorial on June 12. The main event will kick off at 8 p.m. on Sunday, June 14 — prime time on the president’s birthday.
Donald Trump holds up a Bible outside of St. John’s Episcopal church across Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C., on June 1, 2020.BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
Eric Swalwell on Jan. 10, 2026.
Want to Stop Sexual Abuse On The Job? Start With Digital Controls and Mandatory Reporting
As women in politics, it is deeply disappointing to see our efforts promoting justice and equality upended by men who claim to champion “women’s safety” in public, but prey on women in private. We’re talking, of course, about the latest headlines involving former congressmen Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales — who both resigned from Congress in disgrace amid disturbing reports of sexual misconduct, including hounding women who worked for them into sexual encounters.
How did we get here?
Nine years ago, we called out the pervasive culture of sexual harassment, discrimination, bullying, and abuse in politics with our #MeToo politics “We Said Enough” letter. We were angry. Genuinely, bone-deep angry — but we also believed we had reached a turning point. And in many ways, we had. Conversations about harassment, discrimination, bullying, and abuse — once confined to whisper networks and carefully worded text messages passed between women — finally had a name, a hashtag, a movement.
Our anger became a catalyst. We women organized. We advocated. We built. We changed laws, created new codes of conduct (including in legislatures and in Congress), and constructed systems for accountability. We made progress. The culture shifted. The conversation changed. People who had operated with impunity faced consequences. We were, and still are, proud of what we built together with women across the country.
And yet.
Here we are, nine years later, and we are angry again. More than that — we feel guilt, and a familiar disbelief. We have once again watched credible, serious allegations surface against men in positions of power — men whose behavior was not entirely hidden, men who had been warned, men who looked women they respected in the eye and categorically denied everything.
And we have watched the same tired responses follow: Are we sure? Are these women credible? Could they be politically motivated?
Please.
We thought we were past that. We are not.
The turning point, it turns out, was not a destination. It was a rest stop.
Women are still expected to prove it, report it, escalate it — on their own. Institutions still protect themselves before they protect victims and survivors. Whisper networks still carry the fear of disclosure. People will say — as they did with Swalwell and Gonzales — that some people knew, but that they didn’t report what they knew because they didn’t think it would make a difference or because they feared retaliation.
And the landscape has only grown more complex. The digital age has created entirely new forms of predatory behavior — interactions that begin as outreach and escalate into harassment, often without clear lines or immediate accountability.
One question we have never fully answered as a movement is this: What qualifies as actionable intelligence? How credible must it be? How do we address the fear of retaliation?
We know that confronting bad actors is not enough. Many convince themselves that their behavior is welcome. Many operate in gray areas they exploit by design. And we know this: without structural reform, progress will stall.
So, we offer a starting point — not as final answers, but as necessary next steps. Because this conversation is already overdue — by a decade.
1. Update codes of conduct for the digital age
Simple rules: do not engage in improper conversations and do require a second set of eyes on your account. Do not your phone to harass other people. Do not use your phone to solicit or respond unprofessionally to admirers. That seems pretty simple. And yet. Story after story tells us that men in power use texting Snapchat, Instagram and other social media outlets to “connect” — or to escalate a conversation with an admiring supporter into something else.
Every public or campaign office must clearly define harmful contact and that definition must include digital behavior. Put internal controls in place, including oversight of official accounts. Social media algorithms may accelerate behavior, but they do not excuse it. Think of a second set of eyes as a de-escalation tool, not an intrusion.
2. Define consequences in advance
Institutions should not improvise accountability in moments of crisis. Clear, pre-established consequences tied to categories of misconduct ensure action is not delayed by politics, fear, or convenience.
3. Mandate reporting
Make everyone a mandatory reporter. If you can’t keep the boss off Snapchat, make sure somebody else watching that exchange nips it in the bud. When everyone in the office has to report salacious behavior. It’s less likely to occur. And fear of retaliation would diminish if everybody knew that to keep your job you’d have to report harassment on the job. Requiring reporting shifts the burden away from survivors and onto those with knowledge and proximity to misconduct. Too often, “open secrets” remain unreported until harm multiplies.
4. See something, say something
Too many leaders unknowingly lend their credibility to bad actors. The divide between staff and leadership cannot be an excuse for silence. Normalize real-time communication. Create a culture where people act as upstanders, not bystanders.
5. Create independent reporting pathways — and track patterns, not just incidents
Internal systems often fail because they are built to protect institutions. Survivors and witnesses need trusted, external mechanisms that can investigate without bias. And those systems must track patterns over time — because predatory behavior is rarely isolated. It is repeated.
We can’t say that these reforms would have stopped all bad behavior — after all, predators always find a way. But let’s be real: if flirting or ogling comments had been witnessed by somebody else in the Swalwell or Gonzalez office — someone who was a mandatory reporter — and then in fact, reported to the appropriate authorities, a lot of harm could have been prevented. And in the end, the “good guys” who champion women’s safety would have a constant digital check on them to make sure they practice what they preach.
These are our suggestions.
What are yours?
Adama Iwu has been working in politics in California and other states for over 20 years. She was recognized as a “silence breaker” on the cover of Time magazine in 2017 for authoring the groundbreaking “We Said Enough” #MeToo politics letter. Christine Pelosi is a women’s rights attorney, three-time author, and longtime Democratic Party advocate who co-founded We Said Enough with Iwu and others. She continues to serve as its pro bono counsel for survivors of harassment and abuse. She is a candidate for the California Senate.