UFC CEO Dana White has confirmed that he and President Trump plan to stage a UFC fight at the White House on July 4, 2026, in honor of America’s 250th birthday.
“It is definitely going to happen,” White told the hosts of “CBS Mornings” Tuesday. “I talked to him last night, him being the president, and I’m flying out there at the end of this month. I’m going to sit down and walk him through all the plans and the renderings and we’re going to start deciding what he wants and doesn’t want. But yeah, it’s definitely going to happen.”
White additionally confirmed that he has been working with Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, to put the July 2026 fight together.
“When [Trump] called me and asked me to do it, he said, ‘I want Ivanka in the middle of this,’” White revealed. “Ivanka reached out to me and her and I started talking about the possibilities, where it would be and I put together all the renderings.”
When asked if he knew which fighters would be headlining the high-profile event, White said, “No, it’s still almost a year away and, you know, the landscape will change.”
The UFC CEO did, however, note, “Everybody wants to be on this card.” You can watch the full interview yourself in the video below.
In addition to discussing his July 4 plans next year, White also touched on UFC’s $7.7 billion, 7-year deal with Paramount, which was announced Monday. The deal will make Paramount the exclusive U.S. home for UFC programming starting in 2026. Paramount+ will, consequently, stream all 13 marquee numbered UFC events and 30 Fight Nights next year, while certain, major matches are set to be simulcast on CBS.
The deal marks a major shift for UFC, which has long stuck to its existing pay-per-view model. Speaking with the hosts of “CBS Mornings,” White was careful to note that he does not necessarily see streaming as a “better” alternative to pay-per-view broadcasting.
“I don’t know if there’s a better way. There’s just lots of disruptors in the world right now,” White acknowledged. “Who would have thought that taxi cabs wouldn’t exist or that cable television would start to go away?”
The UFC CEO noted that he will be in Chicago on Saturday for a UFC pay-per-view event, before explaining why he believes sports will continue to emerge as an increasingly important pillar of the streaming era moving forward.
“If you drop a television show today and everybody’s talking about it and raving about it, it’s going to be there forever. I can go watch it whenever I want to,” White explained. “Live sports you have to watch live. You have to tune in. It’s a destination watch. This Saturday we have a live fight from Chicago, and you have to sit down [and] you have to watch it live. Nobody wants to watch it after it’s already happened. So sports are a big deal to these streaming services.”
“Obviously, if you see where we started and where we came from, to be sitting here today having this conversation with you is one of the massive, major milestones in my career and the history of the sport,” White added. “It’s been a great week for me.”
