President Donald Trump is enthralled with the Ultimate Fighting Championship staging an event at the White House on his birthday this weekend—in effect his present to himself, since he came up with the idea. We have the details on both the fighting and the anticipated lobbying.
Lobbying by the Octagon
While the White House does not yet know exactly which celebrities might show up for the UFC on Sunday because they have not accepted their Ticketmaster email invitations, Trump’s aides tell Inner Loop they are expecting a parade of donors to attend.
The tickets have been free—and there is no resale—because the UFC is footing the approximately $60 million cost to stage the event, but the UFC has also offered sponsor packages for upwards of $1 million that come with ringside seats.
With limited avenues for executives and companies to get close to Trump these days, political consulting firms in Washington have been advising clients to buy the packages, and Trump’s aides say they have been inundated with requests.
The sponsorship requests have come on top of a stream of queries by administration officials and members of Congress trying to get into the UFC White House event, which is oversubscribed because Trump has personal control over the majority of seats and is deciding who he wants and he doesn’t, the aides say.
The most sought-after seats are under the Claw, a giant 92-foot-tall arch structure that holds lights and sound equipment above the Octagon. The structure is actually called a “beta tent” by its supplier Stageco, but it was renamed by the White House, ESPN reported.
UFC president Dana White has said that he and Ari Emanuel, the chair of the UFC’s parent company, will control 700 seats between them, while Trump will control about 1,200.
The most well known method to get direct face time with Trump during his second term in office has been to buy a $1 million seat at the so-called candlelight dinners hosted by Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. Trump would go from person to person and talk with them directly, according to one political consultant with close ties to Trump’s fundraising operation.
But the candlelight dinners don’t happen with regular frequency—sometimes months go by without a dinner, the consultant said—and so, companies that missed out on donating to fund Trump’s ballroom have been advised to consider sponsoring.
A White House official tells Inner Loop that they have not been involved in any sponsorship discussions and any cost information could be found with UFC. At least some of the UFC’s regular Octagon sponsors, including Meta, have ongoing business interests before the federal government.
In a statement, White House spokesperson David Ingle disputed the notion of lobbying at the event. “The Fake News’ continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read,” he said. “There are no conflicts of interest.”
Fight Night
Meanwhile, Trump’s team acknowledges that the UFC White House event won’t be featuring the biggest names; they were unable to get the likes of former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
There were conversations behind the scenes by White and his contract negotiator Hunter Campbell to book them both, but those talks fell through, people familiar with the matter tell Inner Loop.
It would have been a big deal for the White House to have landed McGregor, the biggest box office attraction in the sport’s history, for his comeback fight, after his last appearance in the Octagon in 2021 against Dustin Poirier ended with a broken leg.
