Dana White stated that he has not yet received a response from his friend, President Donald Trump, regarding the fight company’s new streaming home, just hours after Paramount and UFC announced a billion-dollar rights deal.
In order to catch up and talk over the logistics of the proposed Fourth of July fight event at the White House next year, the UFC CEO was scheduled to visit Washington on August 28 with Trump and his daughter, Ivanka.
Trump declared last month that he would like to honor 250 years of American freedom by holding a UFC bout on the White House grounds with up to 20,000 fans.
UFC fight ‘absolutely going to happen’
Speaking to The Associated Press, White said: “It’s absolutely going to happen,” adding that “Think about that, the 250th birthday of the United States of America, the UFC will be on the White House south lawn live on CBS.”
It appeared unlikely that cage fights would take place at the White House when the Frittata brothers bought UFC for $2 million in 2001 and appointed White as the promotion’s head.
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All about Paramount and UFC agreement
Following a $4 billion sale in 2016 and broadcast rights agreements with Fox and ESPN, White helped the firm land its biggest deal to date. It is a seven-year contract with Paramount, kicking off in 2026 that will average $1.1 billion annually, with all cards on its streaming platform Paramount+ and a few numbered events simulcast on CBS.
The Paramount and UFC agreement was made just days after Skydance and Paramount formally concluded their $8 billion merger, which marked the beginning of a new entertainment powerhouse following a difficult effort to complete the deal.
Early in contract negotiations, White expressed his admiration for Skydance CEO David Ellison’s vision for the global MMA leader and how those strategies should develop now that Ellison is chairman and CEO of Paramount.
“When you talk about Paramount, you talk about David Ellison, they’re brilliant businessmen, very aggressive, risk takers,” White stated. “They’re right up my alley. These are the kind of guys that I like to be in business with.”