DONALD Trump has revealed plans to host the UFC title fight at the White House next year to celebrate America’s 250th birthday.
The “championship” punch up could take place on the presidential lawn and draw over 20,000 fans.
Donald Trump announced plans to host a UFC fight at the White House next year[/caption]
The president is a big fan of the sport[/caption]
Trump, 79, who is pally with UFC president Dana White and a big UFC fan, announced his ambitious plan at an event in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday.
It comes just weeks after the president was pictured at the UFC 316 in New Jersey.
Speaking emphatically to the crowd, he called on White to help organise the fight, which he said could take place at the White House because there is “a lot of land”.
He said: “Does anybody watch UFC? The great Dana White?
“We’re going to have a UFC fight. 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 is going to do it.
“Dana is great, one of a kind — going to be UFC fight, championship fight, full fight, like 20,000 to 25,000 people, and we’re going to do that as part of ‘250.’”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later confirmed the plans on X, adding that the president is “dead serious”.
The announcement marks the start of a whole year’s worth of festivities to celebrate 250 years since American gained independence from the British.
Trump’s connections with the UFC date back over two decades, while his relationship with White has always been strong.
The UFC boss backed the president’s political career from the start, calling Trump a “fighter” and endorsing his presidential bid in 2016.
When Trump survived a failed assassination attempt the White declared the president a “tough guy”.
He later called the 79-year-old “the legitimate, ultimate, American badass of all time”.
Later, in an interview with Tucker Carlson at Fox News, he touched on the pair’s strong relationship, calling Trump “great” and a “good friend”.
He said: “This guy has been so good to me it’s unexplainable.
“He’s been a very good friend to me since the day I met him.
“When we bought this company it had such a bad stigma attached to it and the sport that we couldn’t even get into venues, they didn’t want us.
“Donald Trump saw that this thing could possibly be big.
“Plus he’s a sports guy who loves sports, and he offered us to come do the event at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City.
“He cut us a very fair deal and we went down there and did two events with him where he showed up for the first fight and stayed until the last fight.
“Imagine back then; Trump brand is way up, UFC brand is way down, but he took us in and he was great.”
Trump has been going to UFC matches for decades[/caption]
