Donald Trump Announces Plans for UFC Event at the White House in 2026

US President Donald Trump has been a staple of the UFC’s domestic pay-per-view events over the past year, and now, he’s bringing the Octagon to the White House.

On Thursday evening, while speaking at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, the President announced that on July 4, 2026, the UFC will hold an event at the White House. The event, as he indicated, will be part of his scheduled plans for the country’s 250th birthday celebration.

“I even think we’re going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there, Dana’s going to do it, Dana’s great. We’re going to have a UFC fight. [A] championship fight, full fight, 25,000 people, and we’re going to do that as part of 250.”

The moment was captured on video, as seen at the 1:04:03 mark of the video below:

 

ESPN then followed up with a White House spokesperson; however, they were unable to share any further details.

In the past, the UFC has held events around the 4th of July, however, so far the promotion has never held an event on Independence Day.


 

Looking at Potential Fights for a 4th of July UFC Card

As Trump indicated, the he’s expecting the card to play host to a 25-minute title fight. As the time of publication, however, the United States doesn’t have an active UFC champion.

With the retirement of Jon Jones, for the first time since 2004, all UFC champions across both the men’s and women’s divisions are internationally-based fighters.

Because of that, a 4th of July event at the White House would likely have to feature an American-born fighter competing for a title.

Fighters like No. 2 ranked welterweight Sean Brady, and former BMF Justin Gaethje come to mind given that both fighters are right in the mix for a crack at the title, but likely need one more win to solidify themselves as championship contenders.

Additionally, the card could feature American-born fighters such as top-ranked bantamweight Cory Sandhagen, who may be champion by the time the event happens.

Given Trump’s well-documented friendship with Colby Covington, and NCAA legend Bo Nickal both fighters will likely wind up competing on the card as well.


 

Looking at Some of the Past UFC Events Held Around the 4th of July

As previously mentioned, the UFC has held a number of blockbuster events throughout the years around the 4th of July, which led to the creation of the promotion’s annual International Fight Week expo.

The first event around the 4th of July in the modern era featured Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock back in 2006. The highly-anticipated rematch famously ended with a controversial stoppage, and wound up setting the stage for a massive trilogy fight.

Three years later, the promotion held the iconic UFC 100 card on Jul. 10, which featured a championship double-header that saw Brock Lesnar unify the heavyweight title with a TKO win over Frank Mir, and Georges St-Pierre defend the welterweight title with a dominant win over Thiago Alves.

Years later, in 2012, Anderson Silva notably settled his rivalry with Chael Sonnen on the UFC 148 card, which took place on Jul. 7. The rematch, which had been years in the making, added to Silva’s legacy, and notably marked his last successful title defense at 185 before then losing the belt to Chris Weidman the following year in the main event of the UFC 162 card on Jul. 6.

With plenty of UFC history taking place around the 4th of July, a card at the White House on Independence Day would without a doubt be a once-in-a-lifetime event.

 

 

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