Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
President Donald Trump Intrigued by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is holding an event at the White House on his birthday this weekend — his gift to himself, in fact, since he came up with the idea. We have the details on the fight and the expected pressure pressures.
Pressure by the appraiser
While the White House doesn’t yet know exactly which celebrities might appear at the UFC on Sunday because they haven’t accepted email invitations from Ticketmaster, Trump aides told Inner Loop they expect a parade of donors to attend.
The tickets have been free — and there are no resales — because the UFC is paving the way The cost is about $60 million To organize the event, but the UFC has also offered sponsorship packages for higher than $1 million comes with ringside seating.
With executives and companies limited ways to approach Trump these days, political consulting firms in Washington are advising clients to purchase packages, and Trump aides say they have been inundated with requests.
The sponsorship requests came on top of a flurry of inquiries by administration officials and members of Congress trying to get into the UFC event at the White House, which was oversubscribed because Trump has personal control over a majority of the seats and aides say he decides who he wants and who he doesn’t.
The most popular seating is under the Claw, a giant 92-foot-tall arched structure that holds lights and sound equipment above the octagon. The structure is actually called a “demo tent” by its supplier Stageco, but was renamed by the White House, ESPN reported.
UFC President Dana White has He said He and Ari Emanuel, the president of the UFC’s parent company, will control 700 seats between them, while Trump will control about 1,200.
The most popular way to get a face-to-face meeting with Trump during his second term is to purchase a $1 million seat in the so-called Candlelight dinner Hosted by Trump Super PAC MAGA Inc. Trump goes from person to person and speaks directly to them, according to a political consultant with close ties to Trump’s fundraising operation.
But candlelight dinners don’t happen regularly — sometimes months go by without dinner, the adviser said — so companies that missed out on donating to fund Trump Hall were advised to consider sponsorships.
A White House official told Inner Loop that they have not been involved in any sponsorship discussions and any cost information can be found with the UFC. At least some of the UFC’s regular Octagon sponsors, including Meta, have ongoing business interests before the federal government.
In a statement, White House spokesman David Engel questioned the idea of lobbying at the event. “The continued attempts of fake news to create conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s mistrust of what they read,” he said. “There is no conflict of interest”
Fight night
Meanwhile, Team Trump admits the UFC event at the White House won’t feature the biggest names; They couldn’t get the likes of former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones and former UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor.
There were behind-the-scenes talks between White and contract negotiator Hunter Campbell to book them together, but those talks fell through, people familiar with the matter told Inner Loop.
It would have been a big deal for the White House to get McGregor, the biggest box office attraction in the history of the sport, for his comeback fight, after his last appearance in the Octagon in 2021 against Dustin Poirier ended with a broken leg.
