Trump is known in the mixed martial arts world as the ‘combatant in chief’ and has been a regular attendee at UFC mixed martial arts fights.
President Donald Trump on Oct. 5 said next year’s proposed Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts event will take place on June 14, as part of wider celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
While addressing service members gathered at the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, to celebrate the U.S. Navy’s own 250th anniversary, the president highlighted the significance of next year and events marking the birth of the nation.
“On June 14 next year, we’re going to have a big UFC fight at the White House—right at the White House, on the grounds of the White House,” Trump said.
The date coincides with the president’s 80th birthday.
Trump said in April that the White House would host a UFC event. Further details emerged in September, confirming that the match would take place in June 2026 on the South Lawn.
Trump is known in the mixed martial arts world as the “combatant in chief” and has been a regular attendee at UFC fights.
UFC President Dana White is a close friend of the president and spoke at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally in the days leading up to the Nov. 5, 2024, election, as well as at the Make America Great Again Victory Rally on Jan. 19, 2025.
On Oct. 5, White mentioned during a post-fight news conference that the UFC will start looking at the lineup of fights early next year.
“In February, we’ll start looking at building the White House card, which I will right now tell you, will be the greatest fight card ever assembled in the history of this company,” White said.
Trump had first proposed a UFC event for the U.S. semiquincentennial year on July 3.
The president told supporters at a “Salute to America” event in Des Moines, Iowa, that the federal government plans to mark the occasion with a year’s worth of events. He said that “every one of [the U.S.] national park battlefields and historic sites” would host special events to mark the anniversary.
“I even think we’re going to have a UFC fight,” Trump said. “We’re going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there. We’re going to build a little, we’re not, Dana’s going to do it. Dana’s great. One of a kind.”
The president said there would also be other professional and amateur events held over the next year to mark the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding—which will be on July 4, 2026—including a youth sporting event dubbed the “Patriot Games,” which he said will feature top high school athletes from all 50 states.
Trump has continued to attend UFC matches since his return to the White House.
On April 12, the president was met with a standing ovation when he entered Miami’s Kaseya Center for a match, the president’s first UFC event since starting his second term.
He was joined by other members of the administration, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as then-White House adviser Elon Musk.
The Epoch Times contacted the White House and TKO Group Holdings—the parent company of UFC—for further comment, but did not receive a response by publication time.
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