White House's UFC fights concentrate Trump's sporting, political and economic power

Highlights:
- Trump marks 80th birthday with mixed martial arts fights
- Sports, 250th US anniversary offer Trump a respite
- Tickets for the event were not sold to the public
- Seven-bout fight card will crown UFC lightweight champion
US President Donald Trump hosted mixed martial arts fights
on the White House lawn on Sunday, an unprecedented spectacle highlighting his
willingness to blend the pageantry of his office with his brutal brand of
politics and his family's business interests.
The Ultimate Fighting
Championship's seven bouts are the first professional sporting event hosted at
the White House in its history. It is part of the Trump administration's
celebrations of the nation's 250th anniversary, and is a centrepiece in the
president's summer of sport.
The event, held on Trump's 80th birthday, began hours after Trump and Iranian
officials announced they have a peace agreement to end the four-month-old war
between their countries, which has pushed consumer prices to a three-year high,
unnerving voters. It also coincides with his efforts to counter perceptions
that he is becoming a lame-duck president.
Within minutes of strolling to his
seat ringside – while the Marine Corps band blasted a live rendition of AC/DC's
"Thunderstruck" – Trump was posting details about the Iran deal on
social media, and speaking by phone with journalists.
Inside the eight-sided, chain-link
cage, sponsorships from major US corporations and some of Trump's political
allies – including video-streaming platform Rumble, shipping tech firm EasyPost
and conservative advocacy group Turning Point USA – lined the canvas.
Some of the victorious fighters
greeted Trump after their bouts. American fighter Bo Nickal followed his
knockout victory by climbing over the cage fence to shake Trump's hand. The
president clasped the pugilist's red gloves and slapped his sweaty shoulder in
congratulations.
"This is unbelievable,"
Nickal said afterward, gesturing toward Trump in a post-match interview with
podcaster Joe Rogan, UFC's longtime TV commentator. "It takes such a
special person to be able to have the balls to do something like this."
Another victorious fighter,
heavyweight Josh Hokit, gave Trump an item that he hung around the president's
neck before delivering an expletive-ridden speech that included praise for
Trump and concluded with a misogynistic jab at former first lady Michelle
Obama.
The temporary venue nicknamed
"The Claw", 20 rows deep on all sides and featuring supports rising
higher than the White House roof, provided an intimate setting for Sunday's
bouts compared to the arenas normally used by UFC.
Fighters warmed up in a space at
the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door and walked out to their
fights from within the White House itself. Noise from the sound system caromed
off the façade of the White House's Truman Balcony, shaking the executive
mansion's walls.
Punching and economic power
Seventeen months into his second
term in office, Trump has repeatedly pushed the boundaries of the presidency to
command attention and project strength.
Trump in March reported the
purchase of up to $50,000 in shares of TKO Group Holdings, UFC's publicly
traded parent company. The fighting circuit said it would spend $60 million to
bear the cost of the event, but neither the company nor the White House have
provided details of the financial arrangements.
"The vast majority of
Americans are not celebrating 250 years of America by watching a UFC
fight," said Dan Rayburn, an independent streaming analyst. "This is
really a private event."
Closed captioning of the event,
streamed on Paramount+, was sponsored by Trump Coin, the gold and silver tokens
bearing the president's profile sold by the Trump family. World Liberty
Financial, a cryptocurrency firm backed by two of the president's sons and the
son of his chief diplomatic negotiator, contributed to the pool of bonus money
doled out to fighters who impress UFC officials.
Tickets were not sold publicly. The
White House recruited military personnel to fill some of the 4,000 seats in the
arena. Other tickets were controlled by the Trump administration. UFC offered
others to guests paying more than $1 million, a person familiar with the matter
told Reuters.
The White House has rejected
allegations of a conflict of interest and said the Trump family manages the
president's business affairs.
Few Americans approve of White House bouts
Trump asserted broad executive
authority to stage a private company's event on federal grounds, a break with
norms that drew a legal challenge and raised concerns about the cost of the
event and potential ethical conflicts.
In a Reuters/Ipsos online poll of 4,531
US adults conducted 3-8 June, just 16% said it was appropriate for Trump to
hold the event. A judge declined on Friday to block the event in a legal
challenge by plaintiffs who had argued that his administration exceeded its
authority in staging it.
Trump, whose occasional involvement
with mixed martial arts goes back decades, is close with UFC Chief Executive
Dana White and the Ellison family, whose Paramount has a $7.7 billion deal to
air UFC fights until 2033.
Trump has made sports a recurring
feature of his presidency, weighing in on issues including transgender athletes
and pay for college football players, and has attended a range of major
sporting events, including several UFC shows.
France delayed the Group of Seven
summit, which starts on Monday, to accommodate Trump's attendance at Sunday's
UFC event.
About a fifth of Americans call
themselves MMA fans. According to the findings of the Reuters/Ipsos poll, fight
fans do not have a particularly high opinion overall of Trump's job
performance.
















