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 and other television programming under its control as the company transitions into the Paramount era. White said the deal might involve finding new homes for “The Ultimate Fighter,” “Road To UFC” and “Dana White’s Contender Series.” It’s not guaranteed that the traditional 10 p.m. start time for former pay-per-view events will remain, especially on nights when cards will also air on CBS.
“We haven’t figured that out yet, but we will,” White said.
As for the often contentious issue of fighter pay?
“It will affect fighter pay, big time,” White said. “From deal-to-deal, fighter pay has grown, too. Every time we win, everybody wins.”
Boxer Jake Paul wrote on social media that the elimination of the pay-per-view model should give the fighters a better idea of their worth.
“Every fighter in the UFC now has a clear picture of what the revenue is…no more PPV excuses,” Paul wrote. “Get your worth boys and girls.”
White scoffed at the idea that the traditional PPV model is dead.
There are still UFC cards on pay-per-view the rest of the year through the end of the ESPN contract, and White and Saudi Arabia have teamed to launch a new boxing venture that starts next year and could use a PPV home.
“It’s definitely not run it’s course,” White said. “There were guys out there who were interested in pay-per-view, and there were guys out there that weren’t. Wherever we ended up, that’s what we’re going to roll with.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.