{"id":738064,"date":"2026-06-15T10:30:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/738064\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T10:30:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T10:30:11","slug":"donald-trump-welcomes-85000-ufc-fans-to-birthday-bash-on-the-white-house-lawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/738064\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump welcomes 85,000 UFC fans to birthday bash on the White House lawn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives with UFC CEO Dana White for UFC Freedom 250 on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday.Evan Vucci\/Reuters<\/p>\n

As U.S. President Donald Trump marked his 80th birthday on Sunday, his approval ratings remained low, gas prices remained high and his normally iron grip over congressional Republicans appeared to be slipping.<\/p>\n

Even the day\u2019s good news \u2013 that Iran had agreed to reopen<\/a> the Strait of Hormuz \u2013 merely restored the status quo before Mr. Trump launched his war on the country in February.<\/p>\n

But it didn\u2019t stop the President from a birthday celebration as contentious as it was unusual: seven Ultimate Fighting Championship bouts on the White House lawn, branded as a celebration of the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.<\/p>\n

And among the estimated 85,000 who gathered to watch the fights on jumbotrons at a nearby public viewing area, many shrugged off Mr. Trump\u2019s travails.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in a war,\u201d said Noah Desai, a 53-year-old mechanic who drove in from Gettysburg, Pa., of the between 30- to 50-per-cent increase in fuel prices since February. \u201cWhen Biden was in office, there wasn\u2019t even a war on and gas prices were through the roof.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the cage match, he enthused: \u201cIt\u2019s once-in-a-lifetime. Something like this never, ever happens at the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Fans gear up for Sunday’s fights at the UFC Fan Fest on the White House Ellipse.Allison Robbert\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Throughout the afternoon, amid 34 C temperatures and sweltering humidity, the crowds navigated several blocks\u2019 worth of police barriers around the National Mall to reach the watch party. Looming in the middle distance was the \u201cClaw,\u201d the stars-and-stripes-covered steel structure sitting atop the UFC octagon and 4,000 seats on the White House\u2019s south lawn.<\/p>\n

The event drew criticism both for the violent optics of staging a fight night at a symbol of American democracy and for the use of public property to benefit a private enterprise.<\/p>\n

One lawsuit that unsuccessfully sought to stop the event criticized as \u201cdeeply corrupt\u201d Mr. Trump\u2019s decision to give access to the White House to a for-profit sports event whose parent company he owns shares in.<\/p>\n

A judge rejected the suit, finding that its plaintiffs, two Washington-area residents, lack standing to sue and that the UFC had already spent US$60-million on the bouts.<\/p>\n

USMCA not expected to be discussed at G7 summit, Carney says<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think of other countries and the things they do to celebrate the birthdays of their leaders,\u201d said Dave Morgan, a 48-year-old business consultant from Nashville, Tenn., sporting American flag coveralls as he strolled down Constitution Avenue toward the viewing party. \u201cAsk Queen Elizabeth what she did for her birthday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The British sovereign \u2013 Elizabeth II until her death in 2022 and now King Charles III \u2013 ceremonially marks their birthday with Trooping the Colour, a military parade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Joe Biden could have a Pride event at the White House, Trump can have the UFC there. And I imagine the next president will do their event,\u201d said Johnny Flores, 32, a Washington restaurant worker, as he sat on a shaded stone wall at the edge of the Mall.<\/p>\n

Like many in attendance, Mr. Flores said he was there for the UFC and wasn\u2019t interested in the politics. \u201cWe enjoy sports to get away from the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

With the White House in the background, American featherweight Steve Garcia fights Brazil’s Diego Lopes in the UFC Freedom 250 octagon.KENT NISHIMURA\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Whether the White House event would grant the President much lift in his efforts to woo young, male voters to the Republican Party, however, appears doubtful. A Reuters\/Ipsos poll suggests just 16 per cent of Americans believe it is appropriate for Mr. Trump to stage the bouts.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s popularity has taken a hit in recent months, amid gas and grocery inflation and a backlash to his mass immigration roundup. An NBC poll released Sunday pegged his approval rating at 39 per cent, on par with Mr. Trump\u2019s first-term nadir in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and anti-racism protests.<\/p>\n

The rumblings of discontent have even reached into the Republican congressional caucus, which pressed his administration into vowing not to set up a planned US$1.776-billion \u201cAnti-Weaponization Fund\u201d that appeared intended to pay off Jan. 6 rioters.<\/p>\n

Mr. Trump\u2019s stock had certainly fallen for Jason Roberts. He said he liked Mr. Trump\u2019s promises to stop the U.S.\u2019s \u201cforever wars\u201d and release files on the late child-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, only to watch the President try to obstruct the publication of the documents and attack Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially, I liked what he said but I\u2019m now disappointed,\u201d said the 45-year-old business consultant, who was in the Washington area for work and decided to check out the scene on the Mall ahead of the fights. \u201cThis country is US$40-trillion in debt. The Republicans are going to get murdered in the midterms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinion: Trump management in a less clubby G7<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearby, a group of protesters carried papier-m\u00e2ch\u00e9 heads of Mr. Trump and other figures from his administration, and chanted: \u201cWhose house? Our house! Whose lawn? Our lawn!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMake The Hunger Games fiction again!\u201d shouted Ann Porcella, a 67-year-old nanny and retired teacher from Baltimore, Md.<\/p>\n

She equated the event with the gladiators of ancient Rome: an ostensibly entertaining spectacle that also served the purpose of fostering a martial culture in a decadent empire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a show of power, it\u2019s a show of masculine strength,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s, \u2018We\u2019re going to run this world through strength and might.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A protester outside the White House facetiously wishes U.S. President Donald Trump a happy birthday ahead of the UFC event.Leah Millis\/Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. President Donald Trump arrives with UFC CEO Dana White for UFC Freedom…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738065,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,43,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,41,39,42,40,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-738064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-headlines","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}