When Donald Trump first introduced that the White House would host a UFC occasion to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary, the US president informed supporters it would be a “big deal”. Evidence over the final week means that, not for the first time, Trump could also be exaggerating slightly.
Trump has promised a spectacle not like something the UFC has staged earlier than. “They’re going to have eight or nine championship fights – the biggest fights they’ve ever had,” Trump said in December of plans for the White House occasion. “Every one is a championship fight, and every one is a legendary type of fight.”
The UFC was simply as bullish, with CEO Dana White promising “the greatest fight card ever assembled”; a “one-of-one incredible opportunity” to put on the “baddest card of all time”. The hype surrounding the occasion feels much more obnoxious when you think about that it’s being held in honor of a president whose administration has overseen a brutal immigration crackdown throughout which two US residents have been killed, alienated many of its former allies and engaged in doubtful navy actions overseas.
It seems that the hype can be as unjustified as it’s obnoxious. When the UFC lastly introduced the battle card for the occasion final week, it fell quick of Trump and White’s boasts. Instead of the “eight or nine” title fights promised by Trump, the occasion will characteristic precisely two: a light-weight championship battle between Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje in the most important occasion, and an interim heavyweight title battle between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane. The 4 remaining primetime fights will characteristic a handful of fighters who’re vocal Trump supporters similar to Michael Chandler, who will face Brazilian fighter Mauricio Ruffy, and Bo Nickal, who will problem Kyle Daukaus.
The lineup, to place it mildly, was not nicely acquired. Many followers lamented the missed alternatives to incorporate veteran UFC stars similar to Conor McGregor and Jon Jones. Even former UFC champion Ronda Rousey – as soon as fiercely loyal to White and the UFC – admitted that “UFC’s White House card sucks”. But maybe it was former UFC fighter Tom Lawlor who summed it up greatest when he tweeted: “LOL THATS IT?”
Lawlor has some extent. The UFC White House occasion – which the group dubbed “UFC Freedom 250” regardless of being timed to coincide with Trump’s eightieth birthday on 14 June – can hardly be thought of one of the greatest MMA battle playing cards of all time. That is to not recommend that it doesn’t have the potential to be thrilling; it’s simply that there’s little or no to differentiate it from some other current UFC occasion.
The blame falls squarely on White and the UFC, who fueled Trump’s hyperbole surrounding the occasion and allowed followers to dream. But the disappointment can be a testomony to one thing extra poignant: the UFC has turn into a sufferer of its personal success.
Since buying the UFC in 2016, Ari Emanuel’s Endeavor has approached the UFC much less as a standard sports activities league and extra as a scalable media property. In 2005, the yr the UFC signed its first broadcast take care of Spike TV, the UFC staged simply 10 occasions. Each felt consequential – a showcase stacked with recognizable names and fights that captured the creativeness. By 2009, after I started watching the sport, that quantity had doubled to twenty occasions yearly – now not uncommon, however nonetheless appointment viewing. As the UFC continued to develop exponentially over the following decade, the schedule greater than doubled once more, ushering in an period of relentless quantity. Watching UFC occasions now not felt like an event, however an obligation.
As one battle fan properly commented in a social media submit complaining about the UFC White House card: “UFC peaked 2007-2016.”
In August 2025, the UFC signed a seven-year take care of Paramount valued at about $7.7bn. The deal moved the UFC’s marquee occasions away from the pay-per-view mannequin that had sustained the group since its inception. Instead, Paramount’s direct-to-consumer streaming platform, Paramount+, would air 13 marquee numbered occasions and 30 Fight Nights for a complete of 43 UFC reveals in 2026. And although White bought the deal as “incredible for UFC fans and our athletes” in the official press launch, the fact is that it seemingly ended the UFC’s want to assemble blockbuster occasions, since the promotion is now not making an attempt to promote particular person pay-per-view playing cards.
The UFC White House card is only one of the 43 occasions that the group is obligated to provide in 2026. Instead of exhausting its assets to appease Trump’s whims, the UFC took the smart – albeit disappointing – determination to not place all its eggs in a single basket. The UFC White House card can be anticipated to cost upwards of $60m, with the group anticipating to recoup no less than half that sum via sponsorships. This has probably factored into the UFC’s determination to not add to its hefty invoice by together with marquee names like Jones or McGregor, the former claiming he was “lowballed” by the UFC when negotiating to be on the White House battle card. White, in flip insisted that the UFC had no intention of that includes the former two-division champion on the present. It will not be as if the group had a scarcity of (cheaper) choices exterior of Jones. “Everybody wants to fight on this card,” White said final yr. “Literally everybody.”
The irony, of course, is that the UFC White House card is meant to be extra than simply one other UFC occasion. It is the Trump present – a one-of-a-kind spectacle on the South Lawn of the White House, held each to commemorate America’s birthday, and his personal. The UFC spent the higher half of the final decade laundering Trump as the quintessential fighter. White maintains a detailed friendship with Trump and has stumped for him throughout three presidential campaigns. He has additionally credited himself with convincing Trump to pivot to podcasts throughout the 2024 marketing campaign, a call that helped the president win over undecided younger male voters.
As I wrote in an article in the Guardian almost six years in the past, the UFC is the sports activities arm of Trump’s Maga regime. It helped put Trump again in the White House and stays a platform for his loyal base of supporters. The UFC White House occasion is the end result of that union: an evening of authoritarian theatre for a president whose second-term politics – from terrorizing immigrants to dropping bombs throughout three continents – boils right down to a single governing precept: would possibly is correct.
It’s simply too dangerous the fights themselves gained’t be worth the price of admission.
