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Are they going to rename it the Dana White House?
Will Donald Trump have his own walkout song?
Is Conor McGregor really going to drag his 37-year-old body back into the octagon for the first time in half a decade?
From the very start, it has been difficult to separate fact from fiction when it comes to one of the UFC's more astounding ideas.
How better to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the USA than plonk a cage on the South Lawn of the White House and have some of the world's best fighters scrap in front of the president?
But the MMA promotion has a history of pulling off wacky ideas and this could top the lot, with official confirmation of UFC White House coming last month and scheduled to take place next June.
Donald Trump announced that he and UFC chief Dana White have reached an agreement for the historic event to take place
UFC have revealed what their White House event could look like in the first renderings
When Trump first dropped the bombshell during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds back in July, it was easy to dismiss it as the president perhaps bending the truth as he's occasionally been known to do...
He asked the crowd: 'Does anybody watch UFC? The great Dana White. We’re going to have a UFC fight on the grounds of the White House. We have a lot of land there.
'Dana’s going to do it. Dana’s great, one of a kind. We’re going to have a UFC fight, a championship fight, like full fight, 20, 25,000 people and we’re going to do that as part of 250 also.'
Not all of Trump's announcement was correct. The crowd will be more like 5000 than the 25,000 he declared.
As you can imagine the security services would be having a panic attack at the prospect of 25,000 people within close proximity to the most iconic building in the country and an audience stacked to the gills with VIPs, not least the president himself.
Trump is a regular at UFC events and used the organisation to fuel his popularity in both presidential runs.
He is bosom buddies with White and their friendship dates back decades. In fact, back when Trump bought Trump Taj Mahal, a billion-dollar prized jewel in Atlantic City back in 1990, he put on a UFC fight at the venue when MMA was still regarded as the 'human cockfighting' John McCain had described it as.
At the time, even Las Vegas had shut the UFC out and White has said many times: 'Nobody took us seriously, except Donald Trump.'
White spoke on behalf of his old friend at the Republican Convention Centre back in 2016
The pair have been close for decades and the relationship has been fruitful on both sides
The event will look spectacular and will be held on the White House Lawn next June
In 2004, Trump welcomed Tito Ortiz, one of the sport's biggest stars of that era, onto the first season of 'Celebrity Apprentice'.
It was another important moment for the sport in moving towards mainstream legitimacy.
The back-scratching didn't just work one way. In 2016, White spoke at the Republican Convention Centre on Trump's behalf.
'My name is Dana White,' he explained. 'I am the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. I'm sure most you are wondering, "What are you doing here?"
'I am not a politician. I am a fight promoter, but I was blown away and honored to be invited here tonight, and I wanted to show up and tell you about my friend, Donald Trump — the Donald Trump that I know.'
Trump went on to become the republican presidential nominee and the rest, well, you already know.
In 2020, White gushed: 'We have actually become even closer since he's become the President of the United States. When somebody becomes the President of the United States, you don't ever expect to hear from them again. And I understand it. It absolutely makes sense. This guy is so loyal and such a good friend.'
So when the UFC proposed holding a fight at the White House - Trump was never going to say no to his old friend. His daughter Ivanka is even involved in the planning.
There's no doubt that the partnership suits Trump. His plan at the last election to appeal to young male voters could not have had a better vehicle than the UFC.
Trump has used the UFC as a vehicle to speak to young male voters successfully
He officially launched on TikTok at UFC 302 in June 2024 and appeared on podcasts closely associated with the UFC and its audience - namely The Nelk Boys, Theo Von, Adin Ross, and "Bussin' with the Boys".
And the ties between the White House and UFC are now incredibly deeply intertwined. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, was a spokesperson for the MMA promotion before he left to join Trump's 2016 campaign.
So even though 'UFC White House' sounded far-fetched, it should not have come as a huge surprise when White announced: 'The White House fight is on. We got it done today,' last month.
The event was originally slated to take place on July 4 but Trump then realised he has extensive plans on Independence Day and will be flying to three different states, so it has been moved to June.
Now the big questions are, what will it look like and who is fighting?
AI rendering provided to Fox has at least partially covered the first of those.
The White House draped in red, white and blue lights, with thousands of fans situated outside and the traditional 3D UFC graphics displaced for broadcast.
A UFC octagon is situated in the middle of a makeshift arena, with the White House the picturesque backdrop.
The weigh-in and press conferences would take place outside the Lincoln Memorial, which is undergoing renovations for a new museum and visitors' centre
Conor McGregor, who has not fought in more than four years, has revealed his stance on making a return on the card
Another snap shows the weigh-ins and press conferences, with a stage set outside the Lincoln Memorial and thousands of fans again situated outside to watch on.
More images show a stunning firework display and a giant cover over the rings and fans in case of rain.
Nobody does pomp and ceremony quite like the US and this will be the combat sports version of a Super Bowl.
There will be a week of festivities and the UFC plan of squeezing every drop of attention out of a once-in-a-lifetime card. Photo ops with fighting legends, punch power machines and meet-and-greets in iconic settings nearby are among the extensive plans.
It's also expected that jumbo screens will be erected on The Ellipse, a park just south of the White House, so more people can watch.
After the fight, the UFC are having to pay $700,000 to replace the lawn, with White saying: 'There is no doubt about it, this is going to be the most challenging event we have ever done.
'I’m coming off a stadium event, which I don’t like stadiums, to the thing that I hate the most in outdoor events. To replace the grass, because we’re going to f*** up the South Lawn, $700,000 just to replace the grass.'
McGregor has not fought for five years but expressed his interest in a big comeback
As for who's fighting, there's a line in the Brad Pitt film, Troy, that goes: 'This will be the greatest war the world has ever seen, we need the greatest warrior.'
And you get the feeling that as soon as Conor McGregor - or Achilles - heard about the plans, his ears will have pricked instantly.
While the UFC are yet to confirm or deny McGregor's participation, the Irishman himself is doing plenty of talking.
He told Fox: 'The Mac is excited to get back for sure. I'm on it. This is me. Michael Chandler and myself have done the show The Ultimate Fighter, we've had good back and forth, he's a good, tough guy.'
White added: 'We'll build the greatest card of all time. Conor and I have been talking consistently, he wants this fight bad and when you get to a level that Conor is at you have to find things that motivate you, and the White House card has definitely motivated Conor McGregor.'
Interestingly, in the last week, McGregor has said he is negotiating directly with the White House rather than his paymasters.
'I’m not negotiating with the UFC on behalf of myself for this fight like usual. I'm negotiating with the United States of America on behalf of Ireland for this fight,' he said.
'It’s a peculiar one. Trump and the administration have been fully supportive and backing, and I cannot wait to put on a show.'
And McGregor's demands to fight are astonishing. He posted on X earlier this month, writing: '$100million to fight at the White House along with 100 U.S 'Golden Visas' for myself and family and friends.
'I look very forward to entertaining the fighting world once again. A pleasure I never take for granted!'
McGregor is demanding payment of $100m to fight on the UFC White House card
A 'Golden Visa' is an authorisation costing $1m each which grants lawful permanent residence in the United States.
The $100m McGregor wants to fight would far outweigh any payment given to a fighter in the UFC before, which is perhaps why he is negotiating with the US government itself.
Even for such a prestigious event, it would be an unprecedented amount of money for the UFC to dish out and seems impossible, especially given McGregor is a long way from his fighting prime.
The 'Notorious' has won just once in the octagon in a decade and his last clash was a 2021 defeat by Dustin Poirier in which he broke his leg.
Trump and White will know such a historic event needs to be garnished with stars and there has never been a brighter one in MMA - despite the many ugly controversies - than McGregor.
An alternative could perhaps be Jon Jones, who would likely fight Tom Aspinall, but White has spoken publicly about not trusting the legendary American with such responsibility.
The UFC president said. 'He (Jones) reached out, he wrote, like, a text saying "listen, sorry how this all played out’ or whatever. I want to fight at the White House, I’m serious about that".
'I appreciate it, I appreciate him reaching out and doing that. But I need people I can count on for this fight. I know who they are and I know who they are not.'
UFC cards are notoriously difficult to plan. Fighters miss weight, are injured in training and have all kinds of issues that can put the spectacle in jeopardy.
White says the card will be the greatest in UFC history but no bout is official yet
That said, every athlete on the company's books will be frothing at the mouth land a spot on this one.
In the months ahead, White and his team will be working around the clock to arrange the kind of big-name match-ups that will befit the extraordinary setting they'll be fighting in.
Ilia Topuria, Islam Makhachev, Paddy Pimblett and Alex Pereira are other major current stars who could be locked in. But there's no doubt that McGregor is the name who would cross over and draw more eyeballs than anyone.
Trump and White will see UFC White House as a legacy event worth overpaying for and if they cede to McGregor's eye-watering demands they would be doing just that.
