WASHINGTON — UFC president and CEO Dana White raved about the execution and business success of the organization’s unprecedented fight card on the South Lawn of the White House.
But he insists he will never do it again.
“It was an amazing experience that was a one-of-one,” White said in a news conference in the early morning hours Monday in a ballroom at the JW Marriott. “It will never happen again.”
Production costs surpassed $60 million between construction of a temporary venue with broadcast quality lighting and technology in addition to a fan fest at The Ellipse, where more than 200,000 lottery winners attended free events over the weekend, culminating in a watch party on Sunday night.
It was a similar endeavor to what the UFC experienced at a venue in Las Vegas in 2024.
“I can’t afford it,” White said of the main reason they won’t do another White House show. “We’ll never do the Sphere again, and we’ll never do this again.”
Star of the show
Similar to their show at Sphere, the visuals coming out of Sunday night were incredible.
The White House became a character in the event with fighters walking out of various areas of the building.
Justin Gaethje was standing in the oval office reading a framed copy of the Declaration of Independence on the wall as he began his main event walkout before knocking out Ilia Topuria to take the lightweight title.
The bout was a thrilling closer to a night filled with patriotic pomp and circumstance.
“Fight of the night. Fight of the year. Everything,” White said. “It was one of the greatest fights you’ll ever see. It was incredible.”
He believes it also did big business in the end.
“We doubled the all-time merch number,” White said. “(Paramount CEO) David Ellison is going crazy. Out of the gates, the numbers exceeded all their expectations. It was monstrous tonight.
“You don’t get calls from billionaires flipping out too often. He’s extremely excited.”
The UFC even got a break from Mother Nature as the predicted storms mostly stayed away. While there was a rain delay of a little more than a half hour on Sunday, that was mostly precautionary.
“By some miracle, the storm parted and went around the White House,” said White, who demonstrated with his hands how the radar activity broke apart and spared the exact area of the venue. “The breeze was perfect. You couldn’t have had a better night. And just enough wind to keep the bugs away from us.”
Political issues
Still, some of the concerns about hosting a for-profit event on the White House grounds and politicizing the fights came to fruition.
Several fighters praised President Donald Trump, who was seated with several members of his family and White cageside after they made a regal entrance from the White House during the national anthem. Much of the Cabinet and several influential Republican leaders and other international power brokers were in attendance.
Then, heavyweight Josh Hokit made a crude remark about former first lady Michelle Obama.
Yet, there was a concerted effort to focus on the 250th anniversary of the nation rather than the 80th birthday of the current inhabitant of the White House.
“I love this country, and this event was for America’s 250th birthday,” White said. “There was no political agenda or anything like that. The fact that the president of the United States trusted me, they could have had anything.
“There’s tons of things going on in this city up until July 4 to celebrate. The fact that he trusted me to do this and to deliver tonight and we did.”
Just this once.
White did say Trump has asked him to bring back the “Fight for the Troops” concept, which saw the UFC host three cards on military bases between 2008 and 2013, but it may be a while.
“(Trump) wanted to do it this year,” White said. “I said, sir, I need a year to recover financially.”
White may even take a rare moment to reflect on how far the organization has come since he convinced his friends Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta to buy it a quarter-century ago.
While he often says he only looks forward, he admitted he and the Fertittas had been doing a “lot of reflecting” the past few weeks over text messages.
White added that his staff needs a few days to recover after by far the wildest fight week in the organization’s history between planning, logistics and security for fighters, spectators, media and everyone else involved in such a detailed endeavor.
That’s especially true with another fight card this week at Meta Apex in Las Vegas and Conor McGregor’s return on the horizon at T-Mobile Arena on July 11.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
