Last night President Trump hosted the Ultimate Fighting Championship on the White House lawn for a series of seven mixed martial arts bouts. The event was spectacular and went off without a hitch, after a delay for a possible rain shower. I watched the first six fights, then went to bed, probably missing the best match. Here are some thoughts:
* I am a boxing fan, but not an MMA fan. To me, MMA is more a gladiatorial spectacle than a legitimate sport. Many disagree, however. MMA includes wrestling and kicking, which we called “chicken fighting” when I was a kid. There was just one bout in which wrestling featured prominently. Generally, the UFC fighters will circle one another warily, tossing out futile kicks from time to time. The human body is built to punch, and kicking is generally ineffective. (Unless you are talking about kangaroos. Those who have been kicked by a kangaroo will know what I mean.)
MMA fights are generally short, lasting until one fighter lands a solid punch. Then they tend to end quickly. This is largely because of the small (4 ounce) gloves they use in UFC, which leave fingers free for grappling. The small gloves make knockouts much easier, which is also why UFC is safer for the fighters than boxing. I will admit that, despite my reservations about MMA, I enjoyed last night’s event greatly, as did my family members who watched it.
* The real point of the event, of course, was patriotic. There was a flyover, the Marine band played frequently, and the fighters often made patriotic and religious comments after their bouts. The fighters walked out of the White House and were accompanied to the octagon, in each case, by a Medal of Honor winner and a local law enforcement officer or a first responder.
* The event was visually stunning, a classic Trump/Dana White production. Thousands attended on the White House lawn, by invitation, and tens of thousands more watched screens on the Ellipse. I haven’t seen television ratings, and normally one would think that they couldn’t be very high, being televised only on Paramount Plus. But it seems as though just about everyone watched it.
* It was, in some ways, rude and crude. Apart from the violence of the fights themselves, there was bad language, and one fighter yelled “Michelle Obama is a man!” during his post-fight interview. Democrats denounced UFC Freedom 250 as a “desecration” of the sacred White House grounds, a claim that drew appropriate derision from most. That complaint does reflect the fact that for Democrats, government is religion.
* The Democrats counter-programed with a lame show that featured (I am told) washed-up singers and elderly white ladies dancing badly. Happily for the Democrats, hardly anyone saw it.
* One highlight of the Marine Band’s performance was Staff Sgt. Hannah Davis, who sang a number of songs. She was really, really good:
One of the stars of tonight is Staff Sgt. Hannah Davis, soprano vocalist with “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band.
She is the band’s second official female vocalist (following Sara Sheffield) and performed with the Marine Band during the UFC Freedom 250 event at the… pic.twitter.com/XczJUBz5TC
— PatriotGal480 (@PatriotGal480) June 15, 2026
There is no doubt more that could be said, but that is enough for the moment.
