The “hottest ticket” in Washington, D.C., is the UFC fight President Donald Trump has planned for his 80th birthday and the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary – and it has the well-connected in the political world angling for one of the coveted seats.
MAGA donors, Republicans in Congress and UFC devotees are itching to get tickets to UFC Freedom 250, the fight Trump is hosting on the White House’s South Lawn on June 14, which is his 80th birthday, Flag Day and in the lead-up to America’s 250th anniversary.
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Trump told Axios that the exclusive event is the “hottest ticket that I’ve ever seen,” but fans shouldn’t expect an easy time getting tickets.
There will be 5,000 VIP seats around the Octagon, but most will go to military personnel, leaving well-connected GOP politicians and Trump donors scrambling to try to gain entry to the exclusive event.
White House officials have been inundated with requests about the fight — and even the president himself has been fielding a flurry of pleas for tickets, sources told Axios.
The ‘hottest ticket’ in Washington, DC, is the UFC fight President Donald Trump has planned for this summer (Getty)
Trump, a longtime UFC fan, announced the event that will happen on his birthday (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Republicans reportedly began flooding the White House with ticket requests immediately after the event was announced last summer, with at least one senator requesting enough tickets for their entire family.
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It was not immediately clear how Trump would decide who gets to sit ringside, with an aide telling Axios: “It’s all very fluid.”
With even well-connected MAGA-adjacent folks unable to get tickets, UFC fans may be in for a fight just to get in the door.
Last week, UFC CEO Dana White may have shared a glimmer of hope for fanatics after announcing that 85,000 tickets would be given away to the public for an outdoor viewing at the Ellipse, just south of White House grounds.
Six UFC fights will be held at the event, which will also be streamed on Paramount+.
Earlier this month, Trump said he plans to build a 100,000-seat stadium near the White House to host the fight, drawing significant backlash from critics questioning who would be footing the bill.
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Trump also drew some anger from UFC commentator Joe Rogan about hosting the fight during an international conflict.
“I know it’s going to be very high security and high stress and weird to have a fight at the White House in the middle of a f***ing war,” Rogan said on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast last week.
Dana White is working with Trump’s administration to host a UFC fight at the White House this summer as part of America’s 250th birthday celebration (Getty)
“I would hope the war will be sorted out by June, but quite honestly, I’m not confident that’s going to be the case. So that’ll be weird — having this very high-profile event where everyone’s in one place at one time right there,” Rogan said.
The Trump administration has not given a clear answer on when it expects the war in Iran, which it launched alongside Israel on February 28, to come to an end.
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A recent Quinnipiac University poll found Americans largely held unfavorable opinions on the war, with 77 percent of voters thinking it is now either very likely or somewhat likely that there will be a terrorist attack in the U.S. as a result of the war.
When asked when they think the war will end, 18 percent said it will take weeks, 32 percent think months and 26 percent think the conflict will last longer than a year.
Trump has claimed that Iran posed an “imminent” threat to Americans, due to its “nuclear ambitions” and development of long-range missiles. However, 55 percent of American voters disagreed and did not think Iran posed an imminent threat to the U.S. before the start of the war.
