By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jacob Bogage
WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump hosted mixed martial arts fights on the White House lawn on Sunday, an unprecedented spectacle highlighting his willingness to blend the pageantry of his office with his brutal brand of politics and his family’s business interests.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s seven bouts are the first professional sporting event hosted at the White House in its history. It is part of the Trump administration’s celebrations of the nation’s 250th anniversary, and is a centerpiece in the president’s summer of sport.
The event, held on Trump’s 80th birthday, began hours after Trump and Iranian officials announced they have a peace agreement to end the four-month-old war between their countries, which has pushed consumer prices to a three-year high, unnerving voters.
Within minutes of strolling to his seat ringside — while the Marine Corps band blasted a live rendition of AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” — Trump was posting details about the Iran deal on social media, and speaking by phone with journalists.
Inside the eight-sided, chain-link cage, sponsorships from major U.S. corporations and some of Trump’s political allies — including video-streaming platform Rumble, shipping tech firm EasyPost and conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA — lined the canvas.
Several winning fighters greeted Trump after their bouts. American fighter Bo Nickal followed his knockout victory by climbing over the cage fence to shake Trump’s hand. Another victorious fighter, heavyweight Josh Hokit, gave Trump an item that he hung around the president’s neck before delivering an expletive-ridden speech that included praise for the president and concluded with a misogynistic jab at former first lady Michelle Obama.
After the event, UFC chief executive Dana White reiterated his view that it should not be viewed through a political lens.
“On America’s 250th birthday, hopefully tonight created some unity,” said White, a longtime friend of the president. “Like even for the people that thought this was going to be some big political statement or something. This wasn’t. This was Americans, all Americans, celebrating the birthday.”
In the main event, heavy underdog Justin Gaethje defeated Ilia Topuria to capture the lightweight championship.
Before the show, Trump raved about its temporary venue — nicknamed “The Claw” for its supports rising higher than the White House roof — and suggested he could leave it there permanently. But White early on Monday morning told Reuters that UFC would quickly take the venue down.
PUNCHING AND ECONOMIC POWER
Trump in March reported the purchase of up to $50,000 in shares of TKO Group Holdings, UFC’s publicly traded parent company. The fighting circuit said it would spend $60 million to bear the cost of the event, but neither the company nor the White House provided details of the financial arrangements.
“The vast majority of Americans are not celebrating 250 years of America by watching a UFC fight,” said Dan Rayburn, an independent streaming analyst. “This is really a private event.”
Closed captioning of the event, streamed on Paramount+, was sponsored by Trump Coin, the gold and silver tokens bearing the president’s profile sold by the Trump family. World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm backed by two of the president’s sons and the son of his chief diplomatic negotiator, contributed to the pool of bonus money doled out to competitors who impressed UFC officials during Sunday’s fights.
Tickets were not sold publicly. The White House recruited military personnel to fill some of the 4,000 seats in the arena. Other tickets were controlled by the Trump administration. UFC offered others to guests paying more than $1 million, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The White House has rejected allegations of a conflict of interest and said the Trump family manages the president’s business affairs.
In a Reuters/Ipsos online poll of 4,531 U.S. adults conducted June 3-8, just 16% said it was appropriate for Trump to hold the event. A judge declined on Friday to block the event in a legal challenge by plaintiffs who had argued that his administration exceeded its authority in staging it.
Trump, whose occasional involvement with mixed martial arts goes back decades, made sports a recurring feature of his presidency and has attended many athletic competitions as president, including several UFC shows.
France delayed the Group of Seven summit, which starts on Monday, to accommodate Trump’s attendance at Sunday’s UFC event.
About a fifth of Americans call themselves MMA fans. According to the findings of the Reuters/Ipsos poll, fight fans do not have a particularly high opinion overall of Trump’s job performance.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jacob Bogage in Washington; Additional reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Will Dunham, Sergio Non and Stephen Coates)
Comments