Analysis: Trump's UFC birthday bash was a bloody, on-brand affair

Seated under “The Claw” – a 90-foot arch adorned with glimmering stars and stripes lights, which loomed over a Colosseum-style arena on the White House's South Lawn – the president, on his 80th birthday, spent Sunday evening taking in a series of Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial arts cage matches.

Trump sat ringside next to the eight-sided fighting enclosure known as the Octagon, flanked by first lady Melania Trump and UFC CEO Dana White.

The high-octane event, which has been called unprecedented by historians, coincided not just with Trump’s birthday but also Flag Day and was billed as part of America's 250th anniversary celebrations.

As Trump and White first walked over from the Oval Office to the arena holding about 4,000 people, the crowd – featuring many Trump family members; business honchos like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Paramount Skydance's David Ellison; Cabinet secretaries; and U.S. service members – erupted in cheers. Military jets soared over the White House during the national anthem.

A violent sport, a pugilistic president

The first of the seven fights featured Diego Lopes of Brazil against American Steve Garcia. The Brazilian won the fight and climbed the Octagon fence in victory. The crowd went wild. The visuals of fighters warming up inside the White House and sauntering down the Truman balcony, many wrapped in the American flag, was an unusual spectacle indeed.

But for Trump, the event was on brand.

After all, this is a president who, immediately following an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024, defiantly pumped his fist in the air, blood dripping from his face, saying, "Fight, fight, fight." It has since become a rallying cry for his supporters, and a portrait capturing the scene is now displayed prominently in the White House.

The vicious combat sport reflects Trump’s own brand of combative, take-no-prisoners politics. He’s had nasty nicknames for people who cross him and has openly called for the arrest and prosecution of judges and state prosecutors.

After defeating fellow American Kyle Daukaus, fighter Bo Nickal praised the president.

"I gotta thank President Trump for making this happen," Nickal told White in an interview inside the Octagon, adding that Trump was a "special person." Trump seemed to enjoy the adulation.

Critics see Trump enriching himself

While Trump's critics have argued the event is undignified or not worthy of the White House, those are subjective questions of taste, said Jeffrey Engel, founding director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

What’s troubling to Engel is that the president is profiting from it. He pointed to president’s trust having purchased from $15,000 to $50,000 worth of stock in TKO Group Holdings Inc, the parent company of UFC, in March. 

“What I think is indisputable is that the president of the United States is using the White House and using the White House lawn to make money for himself,” he said. “We're seeing huge multinational corporations literally putting their logo in television sight line of the White House.”

The cage featured advertisements from Crypto.com and Scotts Miracle-Gro, among other brands – including Trump's Truth Social platform.

Barbara Res, a former executive vice president at Trump Organization who oversaw construction, said she was surprised he was even celebrating his birthday.

“He hates his birthday,” she said, recalling an incident in late 1980s when some of Trump’s female employees decided to throw him a surprise birthday party.

“They had a cake made to look like a record,” said Res, who worked on major projects like Trump Tower in New York in the 1980s.

“He wanted it to be over very quickly,” she said. “He hated that people took time off.”

The only reason she says Trump planned the extravaganza is to “make money for himself.”

“He thinks it will make him look like this big shot," she said.

But for Trump's base, and the attendees at the event, the event was a show of strength and patriotism.

Chants of "USA! USA! USA!" echoed through the People's House and grounds.