UFC CEO Dana White has confirmed that he and President Trump plan to stage a UFC combat on the White Home on July 4, 2026, in honor of America’s 250th birthday.
“It’s positively going to occur,” White informed the hosts of “CBS Mornings” Tuesday. “I talked to him final night time, him being the president, and I’m flying on the market on the finish of this month. I’m going to take a seat down and stroll him via all of the plans and the renderings and we’re going to start out deciding what he needs and doesn’t need. However yeah, it’s positively going to occur.”
White moreover confirmed that he has been working with Trump’s eldest daughter, Ivanka, to place the July 2026 combat collectively.
“When [Trump] known as me and requested me to do it, he mentioned, ‘I would like Ivanka in the course of this,’” White revealed. “Ivanka reached out to me and her and I began speaking concerning the prospects, the place it might be and I put collectively all of the renderings.”
When requested if he knew which fighters can be headlining the high-profile occasion, White mentioned, “No, it’s nonetheless virtually a 12 months away and, you understand, the panorama will change.”
The UFC CEO did, nevertheless, be aware, “All people needs to be on this card.” You may watch the complete interview your self within the video under.
Along with discussing his July 4 plans subsequent 12 months, White additionally touched on UFC’s $7.7 billion, 7-year take care of Paramount, which was introduced Monday. The deal will make Paramount the unique U.S. house for UFC programming beginning in 2026. Paramount+ will, consequently, stream all 13 marquee numbered UFC occasions and 30 Battle Nights subsequent 12 months, whereas sure, main matches are set to be simulcast on CBS.
The deal marks a significant shift for UFC, which has lengthy caught to its current pay-per-view mannequin. Talking with the hosts of “CBS Mornings,” White was cautious to notice that he doesn’t essentially see streaming as a “higher” various to pay-per-view broadcasting.
“I don’t know if there’s a greater method. There’s simply numerous disruptors on this planet proper now,” White acknowledged. “Who would have thought that taxi cabs wouldn’t exist or that cable tv would begin to go away?”
The UFC CEO famous that he can be in Chicago on Saturday for a UFC pay-per-view occasion, earlier than explaining why he believes sports activities will proceed to emerge as an more and more necessary pillar of the streaming period shifting ahead.
“Should you drop a tv present right this moment and everyone’s speaking about it and raving about it, it’s going to be there without end. I can go watch it every time I need to,” White defined. “Reside sports activities it’s a must to watch dwell. It’s important to tune in. It’s a vacation spot watch. This Saturday we have now a dwell combat from Chicago, and it’s a must to sit down [and] it’s a must to watch it dwell. No one needs to observe it after it’s already occurred. So sports activities are an enormous deal to those streaming providers.”
“Clearly, in case you see the place we began and the place we got here from, to be sitting right here right this moment having this dialog with you is among the large, main milestones in my profession and the historical past of the game,” White added. “It’s been an amazing week for me.”
