Trump is understood within the blended martial arts world because the ‘combatant in chief’ and has been a daily attendee at UFC blended martial arts fights.
President Donald Trump on Oct. 5 mentioned subsequent yr’s proposed Final Combating Championship (UFC) blended martial arts occasion will happen on June 14, as a part of wider celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Whereas addressing service members gathered on the naval base in Norfolk, Virginia, to celebrate the U.S. Navy’s personal 250th anniversary, the president highlighted the importance of subsequent yr and occasions marking the delivery of the nation.
“On June 14 subsequent yr, we’re going to have a giant UFC battle on the White Home—proper on the White Home, on the grounds of the White Home,” Trump mentioned.
The date coincides with the president’s eightieth birthday.
Trump mentioned in April that the White Home would host a UFC occasion. Additional particulars emerged in September, confirming that the match would happen in June 2026 on the South Garden.
Trump is known within the blended martial arts world because the “combatant in chief” and has been a daily attendee at UFC fights.
UFC President Dana White is an in depth good friend of the president and spoke at Trump’s Madison Sq. Backyard rally within the days main as much as the Nov. 5, 2024, election, in addition to on the Make America Nice Once more Victory Rally on Jan. 19, 2025.
On Oct. 5, White talked about throughout a post-fight information convention that the UFC will begin trying on the lineup of fights early subsequent yr.
“In February, we’ll begin constructing the White Home card, which I’ll proper now inform you, would be the biggest battle card ever assembled within the historical past of this firm,” White mentioned.
Trump had first proposed a UFC occasion for the U.S. semiquincentennial yr on July 3.
The president told supporters at a “Salute to America” occasion in Des Moines, Iowa, that the federal authorities plans to mark the event with a yr’s price of occasions. He mentioned that “each one in every of [the U.S.] nationwide park battlefields and historic websites” would host particular occasions to mark the anniversary.
“I even assume we’re going to have a UFC battle,” Trump mentioned. “We’re going to have a UFC battle, consider this, on the grounds of the White Home. We’ve got quite a lot of land there. We’re going to construct a bit of, we’re not, Dana’s going to do it. Dana’s nice. Certainly one of a sort.”
The president mentioned there would even be different skilled and novice occasions held over the following yr to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding—which might be on July 4, 2026—together with a youth sporting occasion dubbed the “Patriot Video games,” which he mentioned will characteristic high highschool athletes from all 50 states.
Trump has continued to attend UFC matches since his return to the White Home.
On April 12, the president was met with a standing ovation when he entered Miami’s Kaseya Middle for a match, the president’s first UFC occasion since beginning his second time period.
He was joined by different members of the administration, together with Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., FBI Director Kash Patel, Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in addition to then-White Home adviser Elon Musk.
The Epoch Occasions contacted the White Home and TKO Group Holdings—the guardian firm of UFC—for additional remark, however didn’t obtain a response by publication time.
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