UFC CEO Dana White told reporters at a press conference early Monday morning that, while his Freedom 250 fights at the White House were successful, his company would not repeat them.
“I can’t afford it,” White responded when posed a hypothetical scenario where President Donald Trump asks him to return to the South Lawn next year. “There’s no f***ing way we can do this again.”
White’s company spent $60 million to produce the first professional sporting competition at the White House, which was held on Trump’s 80th birthday. UFC built a 4,300-seat venue with four “claws” that loomed 22 feet taller than the White House. The event required coordination with more than seven federal agencies.
“It was an amazing experience,” White added. “This was a one-of-one that will never happen again.”
Trump, a long-standing UFC fan, first teased the fight at an Iowa rally in July last year.
“So every one of our national parks, battlefields, and historic sites are going to have special events in honor of America 250,” he said at the time. “And I even think we’re going to have a UFC fight.”
Trump’s professional relationship with White began in 2001, when White hosted his first fight as UFC president at the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Trump’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience, hosted by longtime UFC commentator Joe Rogan, was a pivotal moment in his 2024 reelection campaign.
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The Freedom 250 event broke from White’s long-standing practice of holding fights indoors, where he can better account for weather variations.
The White House criticized a Weather Channel headline about high winds and thunderstorms anticipated for the event as “bulls*** clickbait” on Sunday. After a brief weather delay, the event proceeded with minimal disruption.