WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump emerged from the Oval Office first, then fighters from around the globe followed straight into the fight cage, in part for the president’s 80th birthday celebration and to bring a sport long on the fringe of mainstream acceptance into a main event spot on the White House South Lawn.
UFC was in DC on Sunday night, a most improbable all-American setting for a fight promotion that long ago shed the “human cockfighting”
tag and decades later became entwined with the emboldened right-wing “ manosphere ” that soaks up UFC fights and threw its support behind Trump in two elections.
Trump and UFC boss Dana White walked from the Oval Office to the Blue Room Balcony to chants of “USA! USA!” during the Freedom 250 fight night jacked up by a dose of high-octane patriotism on a blustery night for cage fighting.
This was no Easter Egg Roll.
Ring announcer Bruce Buffer busted out star-spangled threads for the occasion: gold stars on the outside of his suit coat and mini American flags stitched inside. UFC’s ring girls, who normally parade around the cage in skimpy outfits, were covered up for a more PG-rated fight night, dressed in more full-body outfits, some that flowed past the knee or to the ground and incorporated the American flag into the designs.
The Marine Band played from in front of the White House and Zac Brown sang the national anthem — which is never played before normal UFC fight cards because of the mix of nationalities fighting inside the Octagon. The Navy’s Blue Angels and Air Force Thunderbirds zipped overhead as part of a flyover.
The 4,000-plus fans — which included Mark Zuckerberg and David Ellison — on the South Lawn who sat under the claw, the flying saucer-type, open-air structure that housed the cage, mostly sat on their hands until the fighters used theirs to deliver furious fists and smackdowns that got them on their feet.
Bo Nickal delivered the red, white and boom when the three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Penn State earned the TKO win over middleweight Kyle Daukaus and immediately bolted the Octagon for a cage-side chat with Trump. Nickal met Trump in 2019 during a ceremony at the White House for collegiate national champions.
Nickal thanked Trump after the easy night of work for bringing UFC to the White House.
“First and foremost, I have to thank President Trump for making this happen,” Nickal said inside the cage. “This is unbelievable."
The first blight of the night for Trump came when American heavyweight Derrick Lewis lost his fight after he got a personal invitation from the president. Trump proclaimed himself a fan of Lewis and his unconventional celebrations and asked White to add him to the card. Josh Hokit instead improved to 10-0 when he flattened Lewis by TKO.
More than $60 million and tens of thousands of hours of labor were poured into building the arena, according to a court filing from the National Park Service, which oversees the South Lawn, and the looming threat of rain that threw White into a tizzy each time a miserable forecast was raised never materialized over the early portions of the card.
Fight night came only hours after the United States and Iran reached an agreement to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the global economy more than three months since fighting began.
UFC had seven fights with all male fighters under the Freedom 250 banner to celebrate Trump’s birthday and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence’s signing.
Alex Pereira of Brazil will meet Ciryl Gane of France for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria then takes on interim champ Justin Gaethje in the main event.
The rare UFC outdoors event marked the pinnacle of the relationship between White and Trump that has yielded personal, political and financial dividends for both parties. White's first card as UFC president came in 2001 at an event held at Trump Taj Mahal.
Trump has attended four UFC cards as sitting president, walking to the cage amid rock music and patriotic chants from fans. White introduced Trump at two Republican National Conventions.
Trump got a home game for this one, making the short walk from the Oval Office to the Octagon, much like the fighters who were flanked by first responders and medal of honor recipients, among others.
Thousands more outside the White House lawn watched the fights on big screens from the nearby Ellipse, though not everyone was able to get tickets.
Even one of UFC's champions.
UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland was escorted out of the Ellipse event by a group of police officers.
U.S. Park Police said in a statement that Strickland’s presence drew enough attention from attendees that it resulted in disorder. He wasn’t cited or arrested, they said. Instead, he was taken to his hotel and told not to come back to the venue.
Once a vocal supporter of Trump, Strickland has recently said on social media that he was not invited to participate in the event at the White House because he is an outspoken critic of Israel.
White has rejected Strickland’s accusation that he was banned from UFC Freedom 250 events.
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