Trump's White House UFC Event: Historic or Embarrassing?

The UFC event scheduled for July 4 on the White House lawn, promoted by President Donald Trump and UFC CEO Dana White, is being hyped as "the most historic sporting event in history." However, according to Wired, this is an exaggeration. The fight card lacks the UFC's biggest names, such as Jon Jones (who alleges the UFC lowballed him) and Conor McGregor (who hasn't fought in five years and hasn't met anti-doping requirements). The main event features undefeated champion Ilia Topuria versus interim champion Justin Gaethje, but overall the card is not exceptional.

White claims the event will attract "Super Bowl type numbers," but Netflix's recent UFC fight peaked at 11.6 million US viewers—less than 10% of the Super Bowl average. Tickets are free, with Trump, White, and Ari Emanuel (boss of TKO, which owns UFC and WWE) controlling about 1,900 tickets. The rest of the crowd will likely be active servicemembers with a waist-to-height ratio below 0.55.

Adding to the controversy, a thunderstorm is forecast for Sunday, though White vows the fights will proceed. Secretary of State Marco Rubio compared the founding of UFC to the moon landing while signing a memorandum of understanding to incorporate UFC into sports diplomacy. As Wired notes, the UFC was not even the first MMA promotion, and White did not introduce rules or weight classes.