Punches will be thrown outside the White House thanks in part to Ivanka Trump.
A meeting on Friday between Ivanka, President Donald Trump, and Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) CEO Dana White ended with a plan for a fight right outside the White House, the Wall Street Journal reported. The fighters taking part in the event might even warm up in the White House.
Trump gave the green light to the idea after floating it in July as part of celebrations for the country’s 250th anniversary.
According to the Journal, the event will take place in June due to the high volume of events happening around July 4.
One idea that was shot down was using the Rose Garden—whose renovation has garnered Mar-a-Lago comparisons—as the setting for the cage set-up.
However, the president reportedly wants a bigger crowd than could fit in that space, so the South Lawn will be the site of the main event.
That means that the fight will be sandwiched between the White House and the Washington Monument, creating an unprecedented photo-op for the lucky few who will attend.
The National Mall will also be taken over by fighting fans in the days leading up to the fight, with the Journal reporting that there will be autograph-signing sessions and “punching bags for tourists to test their skills.”
“The White House fight is on,” White said in a video posted to social media last Thursday after leaving the White House on a private jet.
The meeting came two weeks after White said in an interview that the president pulled Ivanka into the planning process.
“When [Trump] called me and asked me to do it, he said, ‘I want Ivanka in the middle of this,” White said on CBS Mornings on August 12. “So Ivanka reached out to me, and her and I started talking about the possibilities, where it would be and, you know, I put together all the renderings.”
The pitch that came together was apparently enough to sway Trump, who is a close friend of the CEO and a frequent attendee at UFC fights.
Trump attended a UFC fight with Ivanka, who is a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and her husband, Jared Kushner, in March. He received a standing ovation at the event in Florida, one of several he attended in the lead-up to the election.
Ivanka and Kushner have distanced themselves from the administration during Trump’s second stint in the Oval Office, instead making appearances at celebrity bashes like Jeff Bezos’s wedding and spending time with their kids in Florida.
Though the president originally advertised that the UFC fight at the White House could draw 20,000 spectators, White said on a podcast last month that security demands will likely force the event to be a closed-off affair.
“I don’t even think we’ll sell tickets to that event,” he said. “It’ll all be comp tickets.”
White has not announced which fights will make it onto the card for the marquee event, though he did throw water on the idea that two-time heavyweight champion Jon Jones would be allowed to come out of retirement to take part.
🚨 Dana White says the odds are “a billion to one” that Jon Jones headlines the UFC White House card 😬 pic.twitter.com/B9OSqxokCf
— Championship Rounds (@ChampRDS) August 17, 2025
Several of the sport’s most prominent fighters, including “Suga” Sean O’Malley, Colby Covington, and Sean Strickland, are prominent MAGA supporters.
Former UFC champion and struggling Irish presidential candidate Conor McGregor has expressed his interest in returning to the ring for the event, which would be his first bout since 2022.
Joe Rogan, a frequent color commentator for UFC fights and a friend of White, has not said whether he would sign on to announce the fight amid his flagging enthusiasm for some of the president’s policies.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
The post Ivanka Sucks Up to Dad With Tacky White House UFC Fight appeared first on The Daily Beast.
