An Ultimate Fighting Championship ring on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
WASHINGTON – Advertisements for Polymarket and Bud Light decorated an eight-sided cage on the White House grounds Thursday ahead of a series of mixed martial arts fights scheduled for Sunday, President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday, billed as a celebration of America’s 250th birthday.
Las Vegas-based Ultimate Fighting Championship, whose chief executive is an ally of the president, will stage the seven-fight card that has generated curiosity, outrage, a legal challenge and massive money.
The organization, led by Dana White, who has given prime-time speeches for Trump at the last three Republican National Conventions, expects more than 65,000 fans at the two-day festival on the Ellipse starting Saturday.
According to a government court, the event cost $60 million submission. VIP sponsorship packages, including the opportunity to sit next to the cage under “the Claw” on the lawn of the so-called “People’s House,” could cost up to the widely reported price of $1.5 million.
Corporate organizers this week put the finishing touches on a 92-foot-tall red, white and blue structure that towers over the White House and reaches a radius around the struggling “octagon” – still under protective covering – to provide about 4,300 exclusive seats.
The Ellipse has space for tens of thousands more spectators to watch the fights on gigantic screens. Entry is permitted only to ticket holders and UFC-approved media. According to the administration, up to 120,000 fans are expected who have won free tickets in a lottery. The government has also invited 1,000 members of the armed forces.
The event, billing itself as the UFC Freedom 250, is not affiliated with the national nonpartisan organization America 250, a commission created by Congress to mark the country’s 500th anniversary.
A June 10 UFC promotional article described the event as a “celebration of how far mixed martial arts has come and how deeply embedded the UFC is in mainstream sports and culture.”
The main card features lightweight titleholder Ilia Topuria and interim champion Justin Gaethje, as well as a heavyweight title fight between Alex Pereira and Ciryl Gane.
The advertising campaign on properties owned by the federal government has led to allegations of corruption. Brendan Ballou, founder of the Public Integrity Project, which is suing to stop the event, said the main purpose was to “enrich the president and his friends.”
Corporate connections
The event offered promotional opportunities for businesses, including those with close ties to Trump, and was “held at the special invitation of the President of the United States,” according to UFC press materials.
Dodge and Crypto.com are major sponsors. Dodge is heavily promoting its line of Ram trucks at the event, and Crypto.com will offer the evening’s top contenders a $1 million bonus pool in Cronos, the company’s digital currency.
The fight will stream on Paramount Plus, the platform of Paramount Skydance, the mega media company whose star-studded 2025 is coming fusion The Trump administration agreed. UFC recently inked a $7.7 billion deal with the streamer, giving it exclusive streaming rights for seven years.
According to the UFC, the White House worked with sportswear company Fanatics to design an exclusive “USA 250” patch and logo that will appear on fighters’ uniforms and merchandise for sale.
An Ultimate Fighting Championship cage or “octagon” on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Video by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
The “Octagon Girls,” scantily clad youthful women who are the mainstays of the fight promoted According to press materials, the company-designed men will wear “a variety of custom-tailored outfits that fit the overall theme of UFC FREEDOM 250 and further celebrate America’s history.”
Trump has made it no secret that he supports his friend’s MMA fight promotion company. During his 2024 campaign, he began promising a UFC fight on the White House lawn.
According to public reports and court filings, the president purchased between $15,000 and $50,000 worth of stock in TKO Group Holdings, UFC’s parent company, in March.
In April, when Vice President JD Vance was in Pakistan to conclude failed peace negotiations to end the US-Iran war, Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met appeared together at a UFC cage match in Miami.
A news conference is scheduled for the event at the Lincoln Memorial on Friday and the Georgia-based Zac Brown Band is scheduled to perform Saturday evening, according to a court hearing submission from the government.
Block attempt
Critics have called the event a “corrupt plan” and some are hoping for a last-minute court order to stop the event altogether.
The national anti-Trump organization No Kings has teamed up with the Committee for the First Amendment to host and livestream a concert from New York City that will feature Patti Smith, Rufus Wainwright and Bette Midler.
The groups are encouraging people to organize watch parties for the concert, which will take place at the same time as the “UFC Cage Fighting Spectacle,” No Kings organizers said in a statement.
The Public Integrity Project, an anti-corruption advocacy organization, is supporting two Virginia residents who say the National Park Service and the Interior Department are illegally lending public land for a major event without congressional approval and required environmental reviews.
“If this fight is allowed to continue, this is just the beginning, and our national monuments will become little more than trademarks for the wealthy and well-connected. We plan to stop it,” Ballou said in a statement June 6 when he filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The plaintiffs, a Vietnam War veteran and civic activist, asked the court for an emergency order to stop the fighting while the case is ongoing.
The court decision is imminent
Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta issued an order Thursday saying he would not schedule an emergency hearing but would rule based on written briefs.
In its response, the Trump administration dismissed the lawsuit as without merit and noted that it did not name UFC as a defendant. Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Justice wrote that the plaintiffs were “two people: one who intended to walk past the event (and intentionally ‘encounter the nuisance’) and another who might happen to drive past.”
“Two plaintiffs with idiosyncratic preferences cannot with justice overturn an event of this cost and magnitude at the last minute and spoil the evenings of tens of thousands of other Americans who want to celebrate their pride in their country in a way that the plaintiffs despise,” the DOJ argued.
“No one is holding Plaintiffs in a Jiu-Jitsu lockout and forcing them to watch UFC Freedom 250 against their will,” the brief continues. “The public interest does not support allowing them the veto power of a heckler, particularly at this late date.”
The White House, which has referred all questions about the event to the UFC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mehta’s decision not to hold a hearing.
The UFC did not respond to questions, including a request for comment about the pending lawsuit, the cost of the event and sponsorship packages, the number of tickets sold and whether the organization has a weather-related contingency plan for possible storms.
