If you’re like most Americans with a pulse, you may have asked yourself two questions in recent days: Why was Ultimate Fighting Championship putting on a fight card at the White House, and who, in fact, were these fights for?
They weren’t for the fighters, certainly. In December, UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland rebuked the idea of fighting at the president’s home. “To go hang out with the f–––ing Epstein list? I’m good, dog,” he told far-right streamer Adin Ross. At a press conference earlier this month, bantamweight fighter (and Holocaust denier) Bryce Mitchell argued that “the government is supposed to protect us, not entertain us.” Other fighters, including Brandon Royval, former UFC flyweight champion Brandon Moreno and even former megastar Ronda Rousey have all criticized the event.
Eighty thousand fans were stuck watching on a screen from the White House Ellipse, and the rest of the country had to pay for a subscription to Paramount Plus.
The fighters on Sunday’s card, which included the multiple championship-winning fighters Alex Pereira and Ilia Topuria, were conspicuously absent from the press campaign leading up to the fights. Instead, UFC CEO Dana White has been front and center: on the cover of Rolling Stone and TIME, and in interviews with The New Yorker, NPR and many other outlets.
Even Joe Rogan, influential podcaster and longtime UFC color commentator, expressed his doubts about holding fights outdoors. “I just don’t think that you should compete in a world championship fight in a noncontrolled environment,” he said on his podcast in late May.
The event certainly wasn’t for the fans, either. When Sunday’s slate of fights was announced, many criticized it as underwhelming. Access to the arena, which had been hastily and controversially constructed on the White House lawn, was by invitation only. Eighty thousand fans were stuck watching on a screen from the White House Ellipse, and the rest of the country had to pay for a subscription to Paramount Plus. In a Reuters poll from June 11, only 16% of Americans supported the event, including just 31% of GOP voters.
Then who were these cage fights for? The opening shot of the main broadcast answered that question. Over roughly five minutes, White and President Donald Trump walked from the Oval Office to the White House’s South Portico, laughing between themselves and admiring the 4,000-seat arena that the UFC had dubbed the “Claw.”
For the president, the event was a chance to enrich his family: Some fighters were offered bonuses in a crypto coin issued by World Liberty Financial, one of his family businesses. But more important, the night was a celebration of his long-standing alliance with White, who advised Trump on a series of podcast appearances with the Nelk Boys, Theo Von, Andrew Schulz and Joe Rogan in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election. Analysts have argued that this strategy helped deliver the votes of young men, who moved almost 30 percentage points toward Trump between 2020 and 2024. Now, many of those same young men are getting cold feet about the president, with many citing the Epstein files and the war with Iran as their primary concerns.
Should White get his way, the bill would allow him to implement the UFC’s economically exploitative business model in its sister sport.
The sports product itself ended up being exemplary, including a major upset victory in the final bout by American Justin Gaethje over the heavily favored Topuria. But outside the octagon, advertisements for sports betting, crypto coins and sports betting platforms fueled by crypto coins, and artificial intelligence-generated military propaganda videos, along with heavyweight contender Josh Hokit’s postfight interview proclaiming that “Michelle Obama is a man,” all drew criticism online. (Even White criticized Hokit’s statement.)
Sam Eagan
Sam Eagan is a reporter who covers politics, modern masculinity and sports. He has written for The New Yorker, WIRED, The New Republic, VICE News and many other outlets.