Dana White has confirmed that he and his team have begun the early stages of figuring out the logistics of putting on a UFC event next year at the White House in Washington, D.C.
White, the UFC president and CEO, said he expects to pitch the layout and plans to Donald Trump later this July with UFC chief content officer Craig Borsari and Ivanka Trump, one of Trump’s daughters and a former advisor in her father's first administration.
“He loves the sport so he wants to do a UFC event there,” White said of the U.S. President during an appearance on the Full Send Podcast. “Why would we say no to that?”
Trump caught the combat sports world off guard earlier this month during a July 4 speech when he said that he is considering hosting a UFC event at the White House in 2026 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence.
White acknowledged he did not know Trump was going to say anything relating to the UFC during his speech.
White added that he expects there to be “tons of challenges” to planning such an event and that there likely wouldn’t be any tickets sold. The event would instead be invite-only.
“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,” White said. “Everybody’s going to have to have background checks.”
It has not yet been officially confirmed whether the event will take place.
During the interview, White suggested the “dream main event” would be former heavyweight champion Jon Jones vs. current heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall.
Jones recently announced his retirement from mixed martial arts and Aspinall was promoted from interim to undisputed champion. However, Jones also quickly expressed interest in fighting at the White House after Trump teased the event.
White confirmed Jones has since re-entered the UFC’s anti-doping testing pool only a couple weeks after announcing his retirement.
He previously said a Jones vs. Aspinall title-unification bout had been agreed upon before Jones changed his mind and decided to retire, vacating his title in the process.
Aspinall has not fought in 12 months and does not yet have his next opponent confirmed.
