Updated 11.24 | Published 11.16
WASHINGTON DC. Trump turns 80 and celebrates with a UFC fight on the White House lawn, a show that attracts thousands of young men.
Rakin Reza, 21, wants to see the spectacle – but something rubs.
– Maybe I’m a hypocrite, he says.
– Twenty dollars?
Rakin Reza fishes out a bill and hands it over. A few seconds later, the 21-year-old from Atlanta is at the merch table, stroking a new one UFC– sweater over the head. In front of him the barricades tower around The White House up in the heat.
The party has begun.
President of the United States Donald Trump turns 80 on Sunday. It is celebrated not only with cake – but with MMA.
– Honestly, I’m a bit torn, says Rakin Reza.
– It is a whole crazy events to have right outside your front door.
On the South Lawn, where presidents normally go to the helicopter or heads of state, the makeshift martial arts arena has sprung up.
In the middle: The so-called “Clone”.
A 28-meter-high, several hundred-ton arch construction rises above the treetops. Underneath, the cage awaits, surrounded by thousands of seats, like a sort of mini-Colosseum at America’s most famous address.
Never before has a sporting event of that magnitude been held on the White House turf. The organizers describe the UFC gala as part of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States. But for many, it is at least as much a birthday bash for the president himself.
On Sunday, seven matches will be decided in the cage in front of VIP-invited military personnel, politicians, lobbyists and UFC top brass. Outside the arena itself, a two-day “fan zone” awaits tens of thousands of people who managed to get free tickets online.
Many have come mostly because they are curious about the spectacle. Rakin Reza is one of them.
– When else will you ever get to see the UFC at the White House? I don’t think it will ever happen again, he says.
Then he gets more serious.
– It feels disrespectful in some ways. But I also want to see it. Maybe I’m a hypocrite.
Rakin Reza is one of those who make the event politically interesting. A Gen Z man, big UFC fan. Who once supported Trump – but now feel growing skepticism.
– I don’t think most young men support him anymore. I think they switched sides. He has simply broken all his promises.
Reza thinks that Trump is doing the exact opposite of what he promised. It feels like political posing, he thinks.
– There is no thought behind what he does. One day it’s one thing, the next day it’s another.
The UFC and Donald Trump have a long bromance.
When, many years ago, the martial arts were still seen as controversial and far too brutal, Trump opened his premises to the organization. UFC boss Dana White later thanked him for the support. Since then, the friendship has grown.
White has spoken at Republican conventions. Trump has moved around big UFC galas. Ahead of the 2024 election, he moved habitually in the world of martial arts and the “brosphere”, podcasts aimed at young men.
It seemed to succeed.
A birthday fight therefore fits the image Trump has long cultivated: of struggle, masculinity, winners and losers. A president who likes to portray himself as a man who fights enemies.
In the shade, fleeing from the scorching sun, stands Edward Young from New Jersey, first in line for the UFC event. He is 66 years old, has a denim jacket and Trump pins across his chest.
The words that have become part of the Trump myth after the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania can be seen on the stomach:
“Fight, fight, fight.”
He thinks the UFC at the White House makes perfect sense.
– Let’s be honest. He is a warrior. He is a popular president and a warrior president. He is constantly fighting for the soul of this country.
He laughs.
– What can I say? It’s a testosterone filled thing. We are men, we like the battle.
For Edward Young, the UFC gala is about more than sport. It is about what Trump represents: a tougher, more traditional and more macho America.
He says that for a long time the country has been feminized, pulled to the left and lost its old values. By that he means: “men should be men” and “women should be women”. Everything else is woke.
Trump, he believes, is taking the country back.
Standing next to the barricades is Ellen O’Neill, 63 from DC. She has cycled past the area and stopped when she saw what was built at the White House.
She shakes her head.
This is grotesque, she sighs.
– I think it is a shameful display of selfish self-glorification that borders on fascism, dictatorship and worship.
Ellen sees completely different things.
She sees a personality cult, glorifying violence, how sponsors make money from the presidency.
And she is convinced of who the show is aimed at.
– Just look, she says.
In front of her, the long line of mostly young men in caps, sunglasses and UFC shirts winds.
Trump won big among men under 30 in the last presidential election.
But recently, support has plummeted.
In recent polls, young men have become more skeptical of the president, as has Rakin Reza of Atlanta.
The reasons are above all the economy, divisions over the Iran war and the Epstein investigation.
Ellen O’Neill believes the UFC fight is an attempt to lure them back.
Roughly 60 million
But the show has also raised another question.
Who benefits from it?
The sponsors are clearly visible on site, on pillars and the cage. Beer company. Crypto company.
Critics say the line between public celebration and private profit is blurred when the president celebrates himself with a commercial sports stunt.
Trump is also said to have bought shares in the UFC’s parent company, writes the Guardian.
At the same time, the gala is said to cost $60 million – around SEK 570 million – to organize, money that the UFC hopes to get back thanks to attention and streaming revenue.
Edward Young does not understand the criticism. He calls critics and Democrats “whiny cry babies”.
– It is a free market economy. If the UFC becomes more popular and makes more money, and if the Trump family has shares, than then? How does it hurt anyone?
Like a cow lip
Along the roadblocks, the queue grows. Sweat glistens on foreheads, people call for water and bottles are thrown into the sea of people. Military-clad National Guardsmen stand at every intersection, and the streets surrounding the White House are blocked off several blocks away.
When the gates to the fan area open on Saturday, the crowd rushes forward like at a cow run. The atmosphere is upbeat. Several people say they don’t care about politics – only about sports.
And not all of them are men.
Lizzy Prater, 31, who drove eight hours, all the way from South Carolina has come because she thinks the event is historic.
She sees nothing strange in Trump celebrating his birthday like this.
– He is the president. If I had the power to do whatever I wanted on my birthday, I would have done that too.
For her, it’s part of who Trump is.
– He has always been very “over the top”. He has to make everything big.
“A lot about business”
Reza Rakin moves through DC in his new t-shirt. He doesn’t want to miss the birthday bash, but also sees the problems with a sponsored event hosted by the president.
– It is not right, he says.
– For Trump, a lot is about business.
Still, he’s on his way in.
He smiles at his ambivalence.
– I will enjoy it. But maybe I’ll think about it later and say: “forgive God, I shouldn’t have done that”.
UFC Freedom 250
UFC gala held June 14 outside the White House in Washington, DC, as part of America’s 250th anniversary and Trump’s 80th birthday.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll from June 11 shows that only 16 percent of Americans think the UFC gala fits the White House. Among Republicans, the figure is 31 percent.
