Written by Dana White and Donald Trump | Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLC
The UFC is going to the White House in 2026 and Dana White expects to present his plans for the event to President Donald Trump in the very near future.
It was just seven days ago that Trump made a surprise announcement that he wanted to hold a UFC event on the White House grounds as part of his ambitious plans to celebrate America’s 250th birthday next year. White revealed Thursday he actually had no idea Trump was going to say anything about the UFC much less tease such a historic event, but he was definitely up for the challenge.
“That day we probably texted four or five times that day, [President Trump] never told me he was going to announce it,” White told the Full Send podcast. “We had already had my team already went and walked the White House, we did all the logistics and we’re putting together sort of the layout for it right now. Probably going to pitch it to [the president] in the next week or two.
“The day that he said he wanted to do it, he put Ivanka [Trump] in charge so I’ve worked with Ivanka and my team and got to where we are now. Now we’ve got to go pitch the whole thing to him. Me, Craig Borsari, my head of production and Ivanka will all go pitch it to him.”
White says Trump wanted to provide a real celebration for America 250 in 2026 and he was more than happy to accept the invitation on behalf of the UFC.
“He’s got this thing and I think it’s awesome, he wants the American people to enjoy the White House,” White said. “This is our place, all the history that’s there. He’s bringing back the Easter egg hunts and things that used to happen there. He loves the sport so he wants to do a UFC event there. Why would we say no to that?”
As far as actually promoting an event at the White House, the UFC CEO confessed it’s not going to be an easy endeavor, especially with the security protocols required to get anywhere near the building much less with the President of the United States in attendance.
Trump has appeared at numerous UFC events over the years so the promotion has already worked extensively with the Secret Service to provide proper coverage whenever the president is in the building. But White was positively glowing with excitement about putting on a UFC event at the White House because for all the obstacles the organization needs to clear to make it happen, it also gives them the chance to make history.
“Tons of challenges,” White said about the event. “First of all, I don’t even know how many people can get in, not to mention the fact that Secret Service isn’t going to let a lot of people come do this. Everybody’s going to have to have background checks.
“Whoever actually gets to be there live, it will be such unique, amazing experience in their lifetime to be able to go to this fight. For us, when you think about when the fight is going on, while the fight is happening and we’re filming, one whole side the backdrop will be the White House, the other side will be the Washington Monument. It’s so unique, so bad ass and so once ever.”
White doesn’t expect the UFC White House event to go on sale to the general public but instead the card would probably end up as an invite-only type card where “it will all be comped tickets.” The event itself is still a year away with tentative plans to hold the UFC card around the July 4 holiday in 2026 but that doesn’t mean preparation hasn’t already started.
As soon as Trump mentioned the possibility of bringing the UFC to the White House, dozens of athletes started volunteering and showing interest in fighting there. While it’s too early to start speculating on potential matchups, White promised he would deliver a card unlike anything else the UFC has ever produced.
“Everybody wants to fight on this card,” White said. “Literally everybody. Everybody. Here’s the thing, we’re a year away so the whole UFC landscape will change over the next year. We’ll see where we’re at. We will absolutely, positively put on the baddest card of all time. This is going to be like an exceptional pay-per-view card.”
Almost immediately after Trump made his announcement, recently retired UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones stated he was ending his retirement—that started all of two weeks ago—and re-entering the UFC’s anti-doping program to give him a chance to fight at the White House.
White confirmed Jones has already taken the necessary steps to compete again and he’s still holding out hope he can eventually book Jones in a long-rumored fight against Tom Aspinall.
“He jumped back in the pool. Oh yeah [officially],” White said about Jones. “The dream main event right now would be Aspinall versus Jones [at the White House]. On any main event. We’ll see.”
White even said “anything’s possible” when Conor McGregor’s name emerged as another candidate to fight at the White House and the UFC CEO didn’t shoot down the possibility that the Irish superstar could share the stage with Jones in his return to action.
Whatever the case, the UFC is already putting together the puzzle pieces to promote an event at the White House with plenty of time to hammer out the logistics and plan the card for July 2026.