A Reuters/Ipsos poll released June 11 found only 16% of Americans 'said it was appropriate for Trump to hold the Ultimate Fighting Championship event, scheduled for his 80th birthday.'Rex HuppkeUSA TODAYJune 14, 2026A more proper title for the heavily sponsored UFC Freedom 250 fight desecrating the White House lawn on June 14 would be: "Donald Trump’s Sad Little Mandatory Birthday Party."After all, while the event is cloaked in America’s 250th anniversary iconography, it’s happening on the president’s 80th birthday, it’s a mixed-martial-arts company run by one of his friends, and Trump is the one who foisted the garish event nobody asked for on the American people.Now we have a 92-foot-tall “claw” structure in front of the People’s House, covered in corporate logos ranging from Bud Light to Polymarket and promoting everything from nicotine pouches to crypto.
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But I’m not at all alone in thinking this event has no business being held on the White House property.
As usual, Trump is out of touch with reality and does what he wants without any thought. Some of the adjectives used to describe the fight are "tawdry," "vulgar," "gladiatorial," "Hobbesian," and a "bizarre, commercialized spectacle."
ReutersBy Jason LangeJune 11, 2026Summary
- Only 16% of Americans approve of Trump holding UFC event at White House
- UFC event coincides with Trump's 80th birthday
- One in five Americans say they are mixed martial arts fans
Few Americans, including only a third of Republicans, approve of President Donald Trump's plan to hold mixed martial arts cage matches at the White House on Sunday to celebrate U.S. history, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.Just 16% of Americans said it was appropriate for Trump to hold the Ultimate Fighting Championship event, scheduled for his 80th birthday, while 46% said it was inappropriate and the rest didn't offer an opinion.[...]Only 31% of Republicans considered it appropriate, a small share considering that eight in 10 Republicans approve of Trump's overall performance in the White House, according to the six-day poll, which concluded on Monday.
Meanwhile, Trump has been hawking UFC Freedom 250 as "The Greatest Show on Earth."
I want to point out one thing: just about everywhere you look, you see Freedom 250—the truck tours, the events around the country, and Washington, D.C.
Freedom 250 is not America250, which was created by Congress. Rather, Freedom 250 is a private, for-profit company! The Freedom 250 truck tour was even designed by the ultra-conservative PragerU!
Freedom 250 was created in 2025 when Trump bypassed Congress entirely to establish it via executive order. Technically structured as a public-private partnership housed inside the National Park Foundation, it operates as a limited liability company (LLC). However, it functions as a vehicle that allows for-profit, commercial entities to monetize historic federal spaces like the White House and the Lincoln Memorial (i.e., to allow Trump to make a buck off of it!).
The LA Times reports that,
But the gala is facing fierce legal challenges from activists who say UFC Freedom 250 is a scam flavored by financial and political corruption, accusing Trump and his close friends Ellison and UFC chief Dana White of benefiting financially from the event. Opponents say Trump has purchased stock in UFC’s parent company, TKO Group Holdings, while pointing out that UFC Freedom 250 is happening weeks before the Fourth of July anniversary.
There are those who say that this flies in the face of the U.S, Constitution's Emoluments Clause! Trump owned a chunk of TKO Group Holdings is bring up all types of questions, Front Office Sports writes...
The Public Integrity Project, a Washington, D.C.-based organization seeking to combat political and corporate corruption, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that the event violated strict National Park Service regulations, failed to secure Congressional approval, and did not involve a required environmental review.
Since then the judge ruled in Trump's favor, but the article goes on to say,
The lawsuit also highlights a core element of UFC Freedom 250: the longtime friendship between U.S. President Donald Trump and UFC president and CEO Dana White that enabled the event.“This plan is deeply corrupt,” the suit reads. “The president is giving White and his company what none have enjoyed before: unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private, for-profit sports event, with all the promotional and branding opportunities that accompany such access.”
WHAM! That is the smoking gun! His ownership in the parent company!
So who is going tonight?
Dana White and Donald Trump directly split up the guest list like a private party, rather than a public or military celebration:
- The Troops: 1,200 seats (roughly 28% of the venue).
- Donald Trump’s Personal Invites: 1,000 seats.
- Dana White (UFC): 200 seats.
- Ari Emanuel (TKO Group CEO): 200 seats.
- The Rest (Lobbyists, Corporate Partners, and VIPs): Roughly 1,700 seats.
Here is what the New Republic had to say;
The president turns 80 on Sunday, and, as with everything pertaining to Donald Trump, his need to place himself at the center of our attention is pathological. He could not just have a dinner at the White House, or a party at Mar-a-Lago. No; he had to build a massive arena on real estate that belongs to the people of the United States to host a vulgar, garish event that is one of the most violent forms of spectacle available to the human race today. Trump will be sitting there like some Roman emperor at the Colosseum watching enslaved men try to stave off lions. The man who wanted law enforcement to shoot protesters “in the knees” is probably bummed he couldn’t just replicate that.But if you can’t have lions, six UFC fights are the next best thing. Granted, UFC fighting is very popular in the United States and across the world. I’ve read various accounts this week contending that UFC fighting has supplanted hockey as the fourth-most-popular sport on television, behind the big three of football, baseball, and basketball. I’ve also read that its popularity may have peaked; here’s a 2025 piece by a sportswriter who has followed “combat sports” for 15 years, showing that the number of matches is in steep decline. “The United States, long the backbone of [mixed martial arts], has seen a sharp decline in activity,” wrote John S. Nash. “In 2009, more than 6,266 professional fights took place across the country. This would be the pinnacle for American MMA contests. By 2024, that number had dropped to just over 3,027—a 52 percent decrease.”
And they don't mince words;
But inside his little MAGA cocoon on Sunday night, he’ll be a manly man, presiding over watching other manly men spill each other’s blood for the leader’s greater glory. It’s the most undemocratic pageant one could imagine, a fact that—given that scant 16 percent support—the people know in their bones. In fact, this is exactly what fascism is: grotesque, violent spectacle that repulses most of the population but drives the fervent worshippers to a frenzied state and tries to bully its way into being synonymous with what it means to be a real American.
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