{"id":1763,"date":"2026-06-12T12:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1763"},"modified":"2026-06-12T12:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:38:17","slug":"trumps-grand-sporting-season-begins-with-ufc-fights-on-white-house-lawn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1763","title":{"rendered":"Trump&#8217;s grand sporting season begins with UFC fights on White House lawn"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>Summary<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>WASHINGTON, June 12 (Reuters) &#8211; President Donald Trump&#8217;s run of high-profile sporting events begins this week in Washington, with the U.S. leader eager to project an image of strength at home and abroad.<\/div>\n<div>At Trump&#8217;s behest, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will stage a slate of mixed martial arts bouts on \u200bthe White House lawn on Sunday. The event coincides with Flag Day, a little-observed holiday celebrating the adoption of the U.S.\u2019s stars and stripes, and Trump\u2019s 80th birthday.<\/div>\n<div>He also persuaded IndyCar to hold a Grand \u200cPrix race around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. later in the summer. And the FIFA World Cup, which was awarded to the U.S., Canada and Mexico in 2018 during Trump&#8217;s first presidency, started this week.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to showcase our country that whole weekend because of the surroundings that we have,&#8221; said Bud Denker, chair of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix and president of Penske Corp. &#8220;I really think it excites him (Trump) that it provides this positivity to our country when we need it.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>U.S. officials hope to use the momentum from these events to promote the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los \u200bAngeles \u2014 and elevate the president\u2019s geopolitical brand.<\/div>\n<div>Congress established a nonpartisan commission to plan events around the country&#8217;s 250th anniversary, but the Trump administration created its own group, Freedom 250, which has scheduled events including the UFC fights and \u200bauto race.<\/div>\n<div>Global leaders have taken notice of Trump&#8217;s interest in sports. In December 2025, FIFA President Gianni Infantino awarded Trump its inaugural FIFA Peace Prize. The following month, Trump ordered a military mission \u2060in Venezuela to depose its leader, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, followed several weeks later by strikes on Iran.<\/div>\n<div>Almost immediately after the UFC&#8217;s mixed martial arts fights, Trump is scheduled to visit France for a meeting of G7 leaders. French officials delayed the start of \u200bthe gathering to avoid a conflict with the UFC event, local media reported.<\/div>\n<div>Trump has called the UFC fights \u201cthe greatest show on Earth&#8221; and likened the UFC&#8217;s \u201cClaw\u201d arena looming over the White House\u2019s South Lawn to Paris\u2019 Eiffel Tower.<\/div>\n<div>Some critics accuse the president of \u201csportswashing,\u201d \u200bor using athletic events to bolster his image amid concerns over human rights issues, immigration enforcement and foreign conflicts.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;We tend to talk about sportswashing when we talk about dictators or oil-rich countries,&#8221; said Nick Watanabe, who studies sport and entertainment management at the University of South Carolina. &#8220;It definitely applies to the United States.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the UFC&#8217;s growth and the White House fights as &#8220;the definition of American soft diplomatic power.&#8221; He announced a public-private partnership with UFC to incorporate combat sports into the State Department&#8217;s diplomatic efforts. Rubio did not specify the financial arrangements.<\/div>\n<div>Critics \u200bhave drawn comparisons to Gulf countries that invest in combat sports organizations, including UFC, to project influence and deflect scrutiny of their human rights records.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cIt\u2019s him using this opportune moment and it\u2019s him trying to place himself at the forefront of 250 years \u200bof the American republic,&#8221; Watanabe said. &#8220;There\u2019s nothing subtle about it, I think. He wants to show everybody that America is great, and he is the one leader.\u201d<\/div>\n<div>Trump&#8217;s allies said the events reflect Trump\u2019s lifelong love of athletics, his business acumen and his efforts to secure his legacy \u200cas a transformational \u2060president. White House representatives did not respond to multiple Reuters requests for comment.<\/div>\n<h2>SPORTS AS A UNIFIER<\/h2>\n<div>Julia Friedland, a spokesperson for Freedom 250, said: &#8220;Sports have long served as a common language that brings Americans together, and that spirit is reflected throughout the nation&#8217;s 250th anniversary celebrations.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>The UFC event has drawn critics simply because it&#8217;s tied to Trump, said Mark Teixeira, a Texas Republican and former Major League Baseball star. &#8220;If you&#8217;re getting bent out of shape about a sporting event in Washington, D.C. \u2014 we have a lot bigger problems in our country,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div>Trump&#8217;s history with mixed martial arts predates his political career. UFC held its first officially sanctioned event at Trump&#8217;s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in 2000. Trump also attempted MMA promotion himself in 2008 and 2009, and UFC&#8217;s \u200bearly shows took place at his casino.<\/div>\n<div>Beyond MMA, Trump has on \u200bmultiple occasions attempted to purchase National Football League teams. \u2060At one point, he purchased a franchise in a failed football league that competed with the NFL for talent and viewership.<\/div>\n<div>Some political opponents with sports backgrounds expressed concern about the White House event.<\/div>\n<div>Representative Sharice Davids, a Kansas Democrat who fought two professional MMA bouts herself, said the sight of a massive, temporary arena rising at the White House gives her pause at a time \u200bwhen consumer costs are spiraling and the U.S. is at war. She told Reuters she also worries that Trump&#8217;s attachment to UFC could taint the sport.<\/div>\n<div>\u201cMy main concern is seeing the \u200bpoliticization of a sport that I \u2060hope continues to grow and that people continue to find and fall in love with,\u201d she said.<\/div>\n<div>UFC fighters told Reuters they had different plans on how to handle the pomp and circumstance \u2014 and politics.<\/div>\n<div>Lightweight competitor Michael Chandler, who publicly praised Trump in the past, said he\u2019d try to tune out the atmosphere and treat the fight as any other. Canadian bantamweight fighter Aiemann Zahabi expects to face boos and jeers while fighting American Sean O\u2019Malley, an avowed Trump supporter.<\/div>\n<div>But Zahabi said he\u2019d look for ways to acknowledge the occasion and the \u2060president.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;It&#8217;s something that&#8217;s probably \u200bnever going to be repeated again,&#8221; Zahabi said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a one-off, and you know, Trump&#8217;s an eccentric guy, and you know, he loves MMA. He loves \u200bUFC&#8230; I think of it (as) just one big celebration.&#8221;<\/div>\n<div>Advocacy groups say they&#8217;re concerned that the scene at the venue injects politics \u2014 and deference to Trump \u2014 into the sports action.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Rising authoritarianism, large-scale conflicts, and global retreat from multilateralism all have direct consequences to sport,&#8221; said Andrea Florence, executive director of the Sport &amp; Rights \u200bAlliance, a nonprofit human rights group.<\/div>\n<div>&#8220;Global actors vie for power, but they use sports as a weapon, and we have seen Donald Trump and the U.S. under his administration using sports in different ways.&#8221;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1761\">Evangelicals divided on Trump\u2019s war in Iran, immigration crackdown, Reuters\/Ipsos poll finds<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1757\">Trump\u2019s allies have another way to pay \u2018weaponization\u2019 victims<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/reliablemovingcrews.com\/?p=1755\">SpaceX\u2019s launch day<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Donald Trump&#8217;s run of high-profile sporting events begins this week in Washington, with the U.S. leader eager to project an image of strength at home and abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1762,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[133],"class_list":["post-1763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-sports"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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