President Donald Trump said the upcoming UFC White House card will be held on his 80th birthday. The mixed martial arts card, originally pitched for July 4, will take place on June 14.
“On June 14 next year, we’re gonna have a big UFC fight at the White House,” President Trump said during a recent military personnel gathering at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. “Right at the White House, on the grounds of the White House.”
UFC CEO Dana White previously mentioned the event was moved to June, but this is the first time a specific date has been acknowledged. Trump originally proposed the card for America’s 250th birthday celebration, not his own.
No fights have been announced for the unique event. Conor McGregor loudly campaigned, both through traditional media and online, that he’d compete on the White House card. McGregor’s claims included a fight being signed and that he was directly negotiating with the White House. During Saturday’s UFC 320 post-fight press conference, White denied McGregor’s claims.
“We have not started negotiating any fights for the White House yet,” White told reporters. “That won’t even start until February. I made it clear that Conor wants to fight on that card, and you can clearly see Conor is very fired up to fight on that card, but nothing is done yet. No fights are being negotiated with the White House.”
White promised big things for the White House event, proclaiming it’ll be “the greatest fight card ever.” However, the UFC CEO is focused on a worthy debut for UFC’s incoming exclusive media rights deal with Paramount.
“So if you look at what we’re looking down the barrel of right now, we’re about to go on a new network on Paramount and we need to deliver a massive, incredible card in January,” White said. “Then in February we’ll start looking at building the White House, which I will right now tell you will be the greatest fight card ever assembled in the history of definitely this company.”
Earlier this month, White revealed the promotion would spend $700,000 on grass to repair the damage UFC’s production would cause to the South Lawn.
“There is no doubt about it, this is going to be the most challenging event we have ever done,” White previously said.
