UFC CEO Dana White said a fight night at the White House on the Fourth of July next year is «absolutely going to happen,» and he's scheduled to travel to Washington later this month to meet with President Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka, to discuss logistics.
President Trump said last month that he wanted to stage a UFC match on the White House grounds with upwards of 20,000 spectators to celebrate 250 years of American independence.
«It's absolutely going to happen,» White told The Associated Press. «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.»
The idea of cage fights at the White House would have seemed improbable when the Fertitta brothers purchased UFC for $2 million in 2001 and put White in charge of the fledging fight promotion.
White helped steer the company into a $4 billion sale in 2016, and he negotiated broadcast rights deals with Fox and ESPN before landing owner TKO Group's richest one yet — a seven-year deal with Paramount starting in 2026 worth an average of $1.1 billion a year, with all U.S. cards on its streaming platform Paramount+ and select numbered events also set to simulcast on CBS.
«You have the NFL, the NBA, the UFC and soccer globally,» White said. «We're coming. We're coming for all of them.»
Paramount said it intends to explore UFC rights outside the U.S. «as they become available in the future.»
UFC matchmakers were set to meet this week to shape what White said would be a loaded debut Paramount card. The UFC boss noted it was still too early to discuss a potential main event for the White House fight night.
«This is a one-of-one event,» White said.
There are still some moving parts to UFC broadcasts
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