President Donald Trump mentioned on July 3 that the White Home might host an Final Combating Championship (UFC) occasion subsequent yr as a part of celebrations for the 250th anniversary of America’s Declaration of Independence.
Trump instructed supporters at a “Salute to America” occasion in Des Moines, Iowa, that the federal authorities plans to mark the event with a yr’s price of occasions, including that “each one among our nationwide park battlefields and historic websites” would host particular occasions to mark the anniversary.
“I even assume we’re going to have a UFC struggle,” Trump mentioned. “We’re going to have a UFC struggle, consider this, on the grounds of the White Home. We’ve a variety of land there. We’re going to construct just a little, we’re not, Dana’s going to do it. Dana’s nice. Considered one of a sort.”
UFC President Dana White is a detailed buddy of Trump.
Trump added that the occasion on the White Home could be a “UFC struggle, championship struggle, full struggle,” with between 20,000 and 25,000 folks in attendance.
The president mentioned there would even be different skilled and beginner occasions held over the following yr to mark the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding on July 4, 2026, together with a youth sporting occasion dubbed the “Patriot Video games” which he mentioned will function high highschool athletes from all 50 states.
“It’s going to be nice,” Trump mentioned, with out offering further particulars.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the deliberate UFC occasion in an announcement on the social media platform, X, writing, “It’s going to be epic!”
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Trump, who is thought within the blended martial arts world because the “Combatant in Chief,” has been a daily attendee at UFC fights, most not too long ago attending one in New Jersey in June.
In 2001, he hosted the blended martial arts occasions “UFC 30: Battle on the Boardwalk” and “UFC 31: Locked and Loaded” on the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic Metropolis, New Jersey, which has since closed.
He additionally celebrated his election victory in November by attending a UFC occasion at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York Metropolis.
Trump’s speech in Des Moines “alerts the start of a unprecedented yr forward,” in response to a assertion from the America 250 Fee. The fee was established by Congress in 2016 to “plan and orchestrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” in response to its web site.
The assertion provides that the entire America250’s initiatives and applications that may happen over the following yr are “designed to interact communities nationwide, creating lasting recollections and a renewed dedication to America’s future.”
Trump mentioned different celebrations will embody “the nice American State Truthful” which is able to “convey America250 programming for fairgrounds throughout the nation, culminating in an enormous patriotic pageant subsequent summer season on the Nationwide Mall, that includes displays from all 50 states.”
The Epoch Instances has contacted the White Home and a spokesperson for the UFC’s guardian firm, TKO Group Holdings, for additional remark
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