The Ultimate Fighting Championship bout at the White House on Sunday is in some ways a birthday present for President Trump, who will celebrate turning 80 by cheering on the fighters inside the specially constructed Claw on the South Lawn.
One V.I.P. guest at the fight will be celebrating, too: David Ellison, the technology heir and Paramount Skydance chief executive who on Friday received a gift of sorts from the Trump administration.
After months of meticulous courtship of the president and his senior aides, Paramount got word on Friday that the Justice Department would not challenge its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, eliminating one of the last major obstacles for the deal to close.
Upon completion, the merger will elevate Mr. Ellison, 43, into a rarefied level of media moguldom. He will be in charge of two Hollywood film studios; a pair of streaming services, including HBO Max; and two major television news platforms, CBS News and CNN.
Mr. Ellison also controls the exclusive broadcast rights to the U.F.C., one of Mr. Trump’s favorite sports, after he paid a whopping $7.7 billion last year for the privilege. Americans hoping to watch the event at 8 p.m. Sunday at the White House — which consists of seven marquee fights — will need a subscription to Paramount+, the Ellison-owned streaming platform.
A Paramount representative declined to comment.
This is not the first time that the president and Mr. Ellison will spend time together at a U.F.C. fight; the men sat together alongside the sport’s signature octagon-shaped ring at an event last year in Miami.
The prospective merger of Paramount and Warner Bros. has raised alarms among Democratic lawmakers and heavyweights in the entertainment industry, who have argued that the deal could reduce competition within Hollywood and limit consumers’ choices.
Mr. Ellison and his father, the software mogul and Oracle founder Larry Ellison, have sought to cultivate Mr. Trump in recent years. Larry Ellison appeared in the Oval Office with the president and spoke with Mr. Trump as Paramount was pursuing its bid for Warner Bros.
After the merger came under review by federal regulators, Mr. Ellison threw a private dinner for Mr. Trump in April at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. The president sat at a table with Mr. Ellison and Bari Weiss, the CBS News editor in chief.
Numerous senior cabinet officials also attended, including Todd Blanche, the acting attorney general who oversees the Justice Department; Stephen Miller, a deputy White House chief of staff; and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
On Sunday, Paramount officials plan to host a brunch ahead of the fight at Ned’s Club, an exclusive Washington members’ club, the newsletter Status reported on Saturday.
Last August, in an interview with The New York Times about his purchase of the U.F.C. broadcasting rights, Mr. Ellison said he and the Paramount team “could not be more excited about this.”
“From my perspective, the U.F.C. is really a unicorn sports asset,” he said.
Asked in the interview about Mr. Trump’s interest in hosting a U.F.C. event at the White House, Mr. Ellison declined to comment.
John Koblin contributed reporting.
The post Merger Cleared, David Ellison to Join Trump at U.F.C. Bout appeared first on New York Times.
