Trump's UFC Celebration
Donald Trump Celebrates Birthday with a High-Profile UFC Event in Las Vegas
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President Donald Trump turned 80 on Sunday by doing something no president has ever done: hosting a UFC cage-fighting event on the White House South Lawn. The spectacle, branded "Freedom 250" and tied to America's 250th anniversary, featured seven professional fights, fighter jets roaring overhead, and a crowd of 4,000 guests cheering from folding chairs on the grass USA Today.
Trump and UFC CEO Dana White walked together from the Oval Office to the Blue Room Balcony as the fights began at dusk. An estimated 100,000 more people watched on Jumbotrons along the National Mall WDRB.
A $60 Million Cage Goes Up at the White House
The centerpiece was a structure called "The Claw" — a temporary arena built around a regulation UFC Octagon. It cost roughly $60 million to construct The Spectator. VIP packages sold for as much as $1.5 million each. Logos for Bud Light and Polymarket, a betting platform, covered the Octagon floor. A Singaporean cryptocurrency firm helped bankroll the event.
The buildup started Friday, June 12, when Dana White hosted a hype session at the Lincoln Memorial. Fighters traded face-offs and scuffles in front of cameras beneath the Lincoln statue The Intelligencer. By Sunday, the White House lawn had been transformed into something closer to a Las Vegas arena than a presidential residence.
Knockouts, Zuckerberg, and a Fighter Kneeling for Trump
Fighter Bo Nickal knocked out Kyle Daukaus, then walked to the edge of the Octagon and kneeled to speak directly with the President. Nickal later called Trump "a special person" WDRB. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg chatted with Trump for several minutes between bouts. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Polish President Karol Nawrocki were also in attendance.
The night ended around midnight after a series of high-profile knockouts. Before dawn on Monday, Trump left for Europe to attend the G7 summit — a meeting that was reportedly delayed to accommodate his birthday schedule The Intelligencer.
Iran Deal Announced Hours Before the First Punch
Earlier on his birthday, Trump posted on social media that a peace deal with Iran was "now complete," with a formal signing set for June 19 in Switzerland AOL. The announcement came as the U.S. remained mired in what critics called an "unpopular and costly war" Los Angeles Times. The timing raised eyebrows — a peace declaration paired with a blood-sport celebration.
Also that day, crews were prying Trump's name off the Kennedy Center after a judge ruled the renaming illegal Los Angeles Times. The White House celebrated while a legal defeat played out just blocks away on the same evening.
Critics See Roman Spectacle; Fans See American Triumph
Analysts drew sharp contrasts. The Spectator compared the event to the shows of Roman Emperor Commodus, warning it prioritized "the pride of one man" over the dignity of the office. The South Lawn and National Mall suffered physical damage from the crowds, and the cost to repair the "trampled grass" has not been disclosed.
Supporters saw it differently. UFC fans called the White House Octagon the ultimate sign that MMA had become "America's sport." Reports of booing from parts of the crowd surfaced — some outlets called it a "huge embarrassment" — but the overall spectacle was hard to ignore The Intelligencer. For Trump, that may have been the point all along.
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