The Pentagon is moving to recruit hundreds of troops to appear as spectators next month at President Donald Trump’s UFC cage-fighting event on the White House lawn, and requiring those who attend to pay their own ways and meet height and weight requirements, according to people familiar with the matter and internal memos reviewed by The Washington Post.
The Defense Department in recent days has solicited troops across the services to attend the June 14 event. Officials are seeking junior enlisted personnel and junior officers specifically, according to internal messages that make clear travel will be “member-procured.”
Junior troops make up the military’s lowest pay grades.
One memo, circulated within the Air Force, stipulates that to be eligible, personnel “MUST MEET CURRENT WAIST-HEIGHT RATIO and current physical fitness standard.” Troops will be required to wear their short-sleeve dress uniforms, the memo adds.
Another message posted on a social media page popular with troops touched on similar themes, calling the effort to identify troops to attend the White House event a “quick-turn tasking.”
“Tickets must be distributed to genuine UFC fans, not solely to high-ranking DVs,” the message said, referring to distinguished visitors.
Joel Valdez, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to comment.
Spokespeople for the White House and the UFC did not immediately respond to questions about the effort to identify military spectators.
The mixed-martial-arts fights, billed as UFC Freedom 250, are part of a series of events the president has planned for America’s 250th-birthday celebration. The White House event coincides with Trump’s 80th birthday and Flag Day.
Last year, he presided over a multimillion-dollar military parade in D.C. that coincided with his birthday and that of the U.S. Army.
On Friday, construction crews continued work on a temporary octagon-shaped arena that’s being built on the White House’s South Lawn. Trump has said the spectacle promises to be “the greatest show on Earth.”
The UFC has long been popular with rank-and-file troops, with numerous active-duty personnel and veterans competing in its cage fights. Dana White, UFC’s chief executive, has said in recent interviews that about 4,000 people will be on the South Lawn, with “most of them” serving in the military. Thousands more people are expected nearby for a viewing party of the fights on the Ellipse, he said.
White, speaking to Time magazine recently, said the event will cost his company $30 million to stage and defended it as an act of patriotism.
“You can make anything political if you want to,” White told Time. “I love this country like anybody on the left loves this country. I love this country like anybody on the right loves this country. This is basically me spending a s—load of money to celebrate the 250th birthday of America, with America and the rest of the world.”
Trump has attended numerous UFC events in the past, and touted the White House competition in the Oval Office a few weeks ago while flanked by UFC fighters.
It’s going to be the biggest event we ever had,” Trump said at the time. “… The White House doesn’t really do athletic events for the most part.”
The event has drawn a range of reactions.
Joe Rogan, a podcaster, comedian and UFC commentator who endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, has called the decision to hold the event outside “odd,” and the event a “security nightmare” and “kind of a gimmick.”
“I just don’t think that you should compete in a world championship fight in a noncontrolled environment,” Rogan said on his podcast Wednesday. “I think it should be inside an air-conditioned arena … you wouldn’t ask them to play a world championship basketball game outside in the sun.”
Trump told Time magazine that he initially did not think Rogan’s comments were “nice” but then agreed the event is a gimmick.
“Life is a gimmick, if you think about it, right? But it’s a good gimmick,” Trump told Time. “It’s something that will never happen again. Nobody will ever have the privilege of doing something like this in front of the White House. It’s going to be very unique. It’s going to be amazing. I think it’s great for America, frankly.”
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