A timeline of how Donald Trump, Dana White solid friendship by means of the fights

THE 28TH INSTALLMENT of the Final Combating Championship was a trial run. Although 36 states had banned the UFC, the New Jersey State Athletic Management Board allowed the then-owner, Semaphore Leisure Group, to host its first sanctioned occasion on Nov. 17, 2000, on the Taj Mahal in Atlantic Metropolis, a resort and on line casino owned by actual property mogul Donald Trump. Fighter Randy Couture returned to the UFC for the primary time since 1997 and recaptured his heavyweight championship in opposition to Kevin Randleman in the principle occasion, however probably the most consequential look that night time occurred within the crowd of 5,000 followers.

Dana White attended, not as a UFC official however because the supervisor of fighter John Lewis. White was with mates Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta III, brothers who have been Las Vegas on line casino homeowners and educated in jiu-jitsu below Lewis. As they soaked within the ambiance, they mentioned all of the issues they may do when the Fertittas’ firm, Zuffa LLC, owned an MMA promotion.

Three months later, White returned to Atlantic Metropolis as UFC president at Trump’s Taj Mahal for UFC 30.

That was a launching pad for the UFC and the start of a 25-year friendship between Trump and White that has led to Trump attending quite a few UFC occasions, together with 4 as a sitting president, and White introducing presidential candidate Trump at two Republican Nationwide Conventions.

“He’s one in every of my excellent mates,” White informed ESPN final month, including that Trump is one in every of 10 mates in his small circle. “Like, you’ve got a gaggle of mates in your life which are, particularly at my age, you have gone by means of all of the s— in your life and all these items. Me and this man have been mates for 25 years and … our relationship will get stronger yearly.”

On June 14, Trump’s eightieth birthday, their friendship will attain a brand new landmark when the White Home hosts a UFC struggle card. Presidents have invited championship groups to go to the White Home, hosted beginner video games on the South Garden and performed tennis or basketball there themselves. However UFC Freedom 250 is unprecedented — a reside skilled sporting occasion staged on the White Home grounds. ESPN has combed by means of archival content material from dozens of shops to current the numerous methods two careers have crossed, making a path for UFC fighters to stroll into the Octagon on the South Garden of the White Home.

• Jan. 11, 2001: Zuffa LLC purchases the UFC for $2 million and appoints White because the promotion’s president. After having bother touchdown a venue to host the UFC’s two upcoming occasions, Zuffa makes a cope with Trump to host UFC 30 and UFC 31 again on the Taj Mahal in Atlantic Metropolis.

In all of the years since, White has repeatedly expressed appreciation for Trump welcoming his firm, saying the on line casino proprietor’s involvement legitimized the UFC. “Not one of the venues needed this,” White told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in 2025. “They did not consider in it, they did not prefer it, they usually have been apprehensive about the kind of crowd that may present up for this kind of occasion.”

After Trump stepped up, White remembered the time this manner: “When the Trump model was right here [White holds his hand high overhead] and the UFC model was down there [holding his hand near the floor], he noticed it and stated, ‘I would like to have it at my on line casino.'”

Nonetheless, Trump’s on line casino enterprise confronted extreme monetary issues on the time. In response to PBS’s “Frontline,” his Atlantic Metropolis operation reported a internet lack of $133.8 million for the 1999 fiscal yr. The umbrella firm holding the casinos filed for chapter twice inside the following decade.

• Feb. 23, 2001: The primary occasion below Zuffa possession, UFC 30, is on the Taj Mahal. In the principle occasion, Tito Ortiz efficiently defends his mild heavyweight championship by slamming Evan Tanner unconscious in 30 seconds. White later stated Trump was in attendance all night time lengthy at UFC 30 and UFC 31, additionally on the Taj Mahal, although ESPN couldn’t discover visible proof of it, and the account has been disputed by multiple former UFC employees.

• June 29, 2001: The promotion’s subsequent struggle card is at 20,000-seat Continental Airways Area, the East Rutherford house of the New Jersey Nets and Devils. For the primary time, pictures and the broadcast show Trump cageside. The UFC then books its subsequent two struggle playing cards in Las Vegas, at Mandalay Bay Occasions Middle and at MGM Grand Backyard Area. White mirrored on Trump’s early help of the UFC in a 2011 interview, saying, “The man noticed this factor coming, was into it and gave us our first shot, and you may by no means hear me say something unhealthy about Trump.”

• Feb. 28, 2003: UFC 41 is held at Atlantic Metropolis’s Boardwalk Corridor, which has almost 3 times the seating capability of the Taj Mahal. Heavyweight Tim Sylvia and light-weight BJ Penn efficiently defend their titles. Trump Plaza serves as the company host for the occasion, and the Taj Mahal on line casino options $5 chips with the UFC headliners’ faces on them.

• Oct. 22, 2004: The UFC is again at Boardwalk Corridor for UFC 50. It’s headlined by Ortiz in opposition to a short-notice opponent, however the occasion is greatest identified for being the cardboard on which Georges St-Pierre first fights for a UFC title. St-Pierre loses to Matt Hughes. Additionally within the constructing is a manufacturing crew for the soon-to-debut actuality TV present “The Ultimate Fighter.” When TUF aired months after “The Apprentice” made Trump a actuality TV darling, the present launched White to stardom, as nicely. A USA Today story drew a comparability, saying TUF had forged White within the “Donald Trump position.”

• June 5, 2008: Trump calls a information convention at Trump Tower in Manhattan to announce a partnership with a startup MMA promotion, Affliction Leisure, a enterprise of the Affliction clothes model. The brand new promotion’s star is heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko, extensively thought of the very best MMA fighter on the earth.

The Affliction model had an extended sponsorship historical past with the UFC, however when phrase acquired out that this new struggle promotion was about to launch, the UFC banned its fighters from sporting Affliction clothes. On the introductory information convention, Trump acknowledges the potential competitors between the UFC and Affliction by elevating a subject that exists to at the present time in MMA: fighter pay. “If there’s just one group,” he says, “you possibly can pay the fighters 5 {dollars} they usually’ll be completely happy to struggle.”

Nonetheless, Trump isn’t vital of the UFC boss. “I’ve nice respect for Dana White,” he says. “Among the folks within the room could not like him. I like him and I believe he is performed an excellent job.”

• July 19, 2008: Affliction Leisure holds its first MMA occasion on the Honda Middle in Anaheim, California, cheekily named “Affliction: Banned.” It’s headlined by Emelianenko knocking out former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia in 36 seconds. Two different former UFC heavyweight champs, Andrei Arlovski and Josh Barnett, struggle on a card full of expertise signed away from the UFC. Megadeth, interrupting a global tour of summer season music festivals, performs throughout the $39.99 pay-per-view.

Trump is requested afterward whether or not he thinks Affliction will take over MMA from the UFC. “I believe it in all probability will,” he says. “All of the fighters need to be with us. I believe it in all probability will take over.”

That very same night time, the UFC holds a unexpectedly scheduled struggle card on 5 weeks’ discover, made obtainable on primary cable outlet Spike TV. The principle occasion incorporates a uncommon non-PPV look by the UFC’s greatest fighter, Anderson Silva. White refuses to name this scheduling transfer counterprogramming, saying merely he’s “giving the followers what they need.”

• July 24, 2009: Nearly precisely a yr after its first MMA occasion, Affliction Entertainment folds. The abrupt finish comes after one of many headliners on the promotion’s third scheduled struggle card, Josh Barnett, fails a steroid screening. Hours after the cancellation of “Affliction: Trilogy,” the corporate pronounces it now not will promote fights and as a substitute will return as a clothes sponsor for the UFC.

This growth reveals White’s enterprise imaginative and prescient. On the UFC postfight information convention following Silva’s KO win a yr earlier, on the identical night time as Affliction’s debut card, White had downplayed Affliction’s probabilities of success, saying, “I determine after tonight these guys can be out of enterprise.” Requested why, White added, “As a result of they spent some huge cash tonight. And I do know extra about this enterprise than they do. Once you spend some huge cash and you aren’t getting that cash again, you normally exit of enterprise.”

White by no means talked about Trump’s title in his criticism of Affliction.

• Aug. 18, 2011: The UFC announces a seven-year, $700 million broadcast deal with Fox. White later revealed that Trump despatched him a replica of a New York Occasions writeup concerning the cope with a word written on it that claims, “Congratulations, Dana. I all the time knew you have been gonna do it.”

• Nov. 15, 2015: Hours after Holly Holm knocks out Ronda Rousey in an enormous upset at UFC 193, Trump posts on X (then generally known as Twitter): “Glad to see that @RondaRousey misplaced her championship struggle final night time. Was soundly overwhelmed – not a pleasant particular person!” Months earlier, Rousey had said she was voting for Bernie Sanders and downplayed Trump to CNN: “I do not desire a actuality TV star to be working my nation.” Rousey doesn’t reply to Trump’s “not a pleasant particular person” remark. Years later, she revealed that White asked her in 2016 to not converse badly of Trump. She stated she agreed “as a result of I owe Dana my life.”

• Dec. 11, 2015: For the primary time publicly, White backs Trump’s presidential marketing campaign. “Donald will get my vote,” White says in an interview with TMZ.

• July 11, 2016: Steven Cheung, the UFC’s director of communications and public affairs, leaves the promotion to hitch Trump’s political marketing campaign. Cheung had managed messaging for the UFC and its outspoken CEO since 2013. “Once you’re in communications, and you’ve got a Dana White-type particular person, I believe he would have discovered lots from that,” UFC vp of regulatory affairs Marc Ratner informed NOTUS. “And which will have helped him there with the president.”

• July 19, 2016: White speaks at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. The UFC CEO begins his handle with, “What’s up, GOP? … I am positive most of you might be questioning, ‘What are you doing right here?'” He attracts applause when he addresses why he helps Trump. “Let me inform you one thing: I have been within the struggle enterprise my complete life; I do know fighters,” White says. “Women and gents, Donald Trump is a fighter, and I do know he’ll struggle for this nation.”

• Nov. 8, 2016: White and his spouse, Anne, rejoice their twentieth wedding ceremony anniversary in New York Metropolis and watch election night time outcomes from their resort. When Trump is introduced the winner, his son-in-law Jared Kushner calls White to ask him to Trump’s victory occasion on the New York Hilton Midtown. White informed reporters that Trump had deliberate to commemorate his victory at UFC 205 inside Madison Sq. Backyard 4 days after getting elected. In the end, Trump didn’t attend the fights. “I do not suppose Donald actually realized what his duties have been going available he gained,” White stated.

• July 11, 2017: At a prefight information convention for an upcoming Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing match the UFC is selling, White says the White Home had reached out about securing tickets for the president, however in the end Trump determined to not attend. “[Trump] seems like he’ll spoil occasions,” White says. “Secret Service goes to must undergo the place, shut down streets and create loopy visitors.”

• Aug. 2, 2018: Trump hosts White and then-UFC fighter Colby Covington on the White Home. Within the wake of Covington’s interim welterweight championship victory over Rafael dos Anjos in June, Covington and White go to the president to rejoice Covington’s victory and shoot video for an upcoming UFC documentary.

• Nov. 14, 2018: UFC Combat Cross releases a mini-documentary on-line known as “Combatant in Chief: the Story of Donald Trump’s Historical past in Fight Sports activities” that particulars White and Trump’s lengthy friendship. In a trailer for the movie, which has since been faraway from the UFC’s channels, Trump says, “Nicely, there’s a fighter’s mentality — whether or not you are within the UFC or whether or not or not you are president. Folks like Dana White have that they usually have it in spades.”

• Nov. 2, 2019: Trump turns into the primary sitting U.S. president to attend a UFC occasion. As he walks out alongside White to cageside at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York for the principle card of UFC 244, headlined by Jorge Masvidal vs. Nate Diaz within the first BMF title bout, Trump is greeted by a mixture of cheers and boos — a extra favorable reception than earlier within the week when Trump appeared at a World Collection recreation in Washington to a “Lock him up!” chant from the crowd.

On the postfight information convention, White expresses no concern for the combined reception Trump acquired. “That is America. You’ll be able to consider and do no matter you need. If you wish to boo, you possibly can boo.” he says. “… I simply felt like tonight we have been gonna stroll in and no matter occurred occurred. The man informed me as a good friend he would come see the fights, and he did tonight. I respect him, and it was a giant night time for the game.”

• Feb. 20, 2020: White seems at a Trump rally in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and says he and Trump have gotten nearer since Trump was elected president.

• Might 9, 2020: Trump congratulates White and the UFC on being the primary skilled sports activities league to renew motion throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “Get the sports activities leagues again, let’s play,” Trump says in a video prerecorded exterior the White Home’s Oval Workplace that airs on ESPN earlier than UFC 249. “Do the social distancing and no matter you need to do, however we’d like sports activities. We would like our sports activities again.”

• July 10, 2021: Trump attends UFC 264 at T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas. That is his first look at a UFC occasion because the finish of his first presidential run. Though Trump is in attendance, he isn’t proven on the published. After the occasion, White expresses frustration together with his manufacturing crew. “We have been on the point of present him proper between the co-main and foremost occasions,” White says in an interview with TMZ. “Let me inform you what, large f— up by my manufacturing workforce. However, you understand, it is reside TV and these items occur.”

• Dec. 29, 2021: White appears on “The Fight with Teddy Atlas” podcast and recounts his look for Trump on the 2016 Republican Nationwide Conference. He reveals that his determination to seem was not in style amongst his associates. “All people, and I imply f—ing all people, informed me to not do it,” White says. “I am like, ‘Are you loopy, man?’ Yeah, there is no f—ing approach in hell I am not doing that for him. Then, as soon as I spoke, you understand, our friendship went to a complete ‘nother degree.”

• April 8, 2023: After almost two years with out showing at a UFC struggle card, Trump makes an unannounced look at UFC 287 at Kaseya Middle in Miami 4 days after he pleaded not responsible in New York to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a cover-up of an extramarital affair. He walks to his seat flanked by White and one other of his mates, musician Child Rock, whose “American Dangerous Ass” performs within the area. As he takes his cageside seat, the gang stands, cheers and chants “U-S-A.” It is the primary of six UFC occasions he’ll watch in particular person throughout his second presidential marketing campaign.

• Nov. 14, 2023: White seems on an episode of Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast. White says he refused to take down a promotional video for Trump from his private social media accounts after a “massive” UFC sponsor requested him to. “Do not ever f—ing name me and inform me who to vote for,” he rails.

• June 1, 2024: Two days after he’s discovered responsible in New York on 34 felony counts, Trump is cageside for UFC 302 in Newark, New Jersey. The video of Trump and White strolling to the cage whereas being cheered on by the Prudential Middle crowd is used to announce Trump’s official TikTok account. “The President is now on TikTok,” White says in the video. “It is my honor,” Trump responds. Trump gained greater than 2 million followers in lower than 24 hours after posting the video. Thus far, his debut publish is the second-most-viewed on Trump’s TikTok.

On the time, 43% of People below age 30 stated they acquired their information from TikTok, according to the Pew Research Center.

• July 13, 2024: There’s an assassination try on Trump throughout a presidential marketing campaign rally exterior of Butler, Pennsylvania. “I’m completely sick to my abdomen and in full shock,” White posts to social media after receiving the news.

Two days later, White appeared on “The Pat McAfee Present,” praising Trump for his resilience throughout the taking pictures. “All people needs to behave like a tricky man, proper? Nicely, when the s— goes down, you discover out who powerful guys are and who powerful guys will not be,” White told McAfee. “This man is the official final American badass of all time. A man takes a shot at him, he goes down, he stands up after which he begins chanting to the gang, ‘Combat, struggle, struggle.’ I actually was blown away.”

• July 18, 2024: White is the final speaker at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, tasked with introducing the occasion’s presidential nominee, Trump. His place on the finish of this system is notable as a result of the job is normally is reserved for the nominee’s partner or a member of the family. “The truth that he requested me [to introduce him], and the truth that his household additionally thought it ought to be me, might be one of many biggest honors of all time for me,” White later told Time magazine.

• Sept. 10, 2024: Throughout a postfight interview on an episode of “Dana White’s Contender Collection,” White says he spoke to Trump “an hour earlier than” Trump’s presidential debate vs. the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, which Trump stated he checked out “like a heavyweight struggle.”

“To begin with, it is the second time he has to debate. He already did a debate,” White says, referring to the controversy held in the summertime between Trump and President Joe Biden. “They did not like how the controversy turned out. They need to kick that man [Biden] out. He is unfit to run, but he is nonetheless the President of america. Now they carry in any individual who wasn’t elected to truly be in there.”

• Oct. 22, 2024: YouTubers the Nelk Boys publish a video with Trump on a non-public flight. Whereas touchdown in Las Vegas, Trump calls White to say, “I am together with your favourite folks, the Nelk Boys … I allow them to trip within the airplane, Dana. I do not let too many individuals trip within the airplane, I will be trustworthy with you” earlier than calling White “the best of all time.”

• Oct. 27, 2024: White speaks throughout a Trump rally at Madison Sq. Backyard in New York Metropolis, simply earlier than election day on Nov. 5. “Women and gents, we’re 9 days away from a very powerful election of my lifetime,” White tells the gang. “The stakes have by no means been greater, and the selection has by no means been clearer.”

• Nov. 6, 2024: Hours after Trump is elected president for a second time period, White addresses the gang at an early-morning victory occasion on the Palm Seaside Conference Middle in West Palm Seaside, Florida, thanking influential podcasters and streamers Adin Ross, Theo Von, the Nelk Boys and UFC commentator Joe Rogan for his or her half in getting Trump reelected. Every of them platformed Trump forward of the election.

In an interview with The New Yorker two years later, White stated he had been making an attempt to attach Rogan and Trump “for in all probability like six years.” He additionally stated he satisfied Rogan to publicly again Trump forward of the election.

“Early on, I began telling the president, in case you keep on Fox, and solely Fox, you are going to lose [the election] as a result of the general public on Fox are already voting for you and each different community says horrible issues about you,” White informed The New Yorker. “You gotta begin stepping into podcasts.”

• Nov. 7, 2024 Sports activities Enterprise Journal publishes a narrative by which White says he has no curiosity serving in President Trump’s administration. “Donald Trump is one in every of my excellent mates. He did a terrific job in his final time period as president and I do know he’ll do an excellent higher job the subsequent 4 years,” White tells SBJ. “I’ve no private political aspirations.”

• Nov. 16, 2024: Trump is again at MSG to absorb UFC 309, his first UFC occasion as president-elect. In the principle occasion, Jon Jones makes his solely title protection as heavyweight champion, beating two-time champ Stipe Miocic by third-round TKO. On the postfight information convention, White is requested if Trump’s election adjustments something for the UFC. “I believe it is constructive for the world, to be trustworthy with you,” he responds. ” … I believe for the entire nation, it seems like any individual hit the reset button.”

White later indicated that this look was the primary time Trump had talked about the opportunity of an occasion on the White Home. “We have been at an occasion at Madison Sq. Backyard and the president leaned over to me and stated, ‘You already know what? We should always do an occasion on the White Home,'” White stated. “And I stated, ‘Sure, sure, we should always do an occasion on the White Home.'”

• Nov. 19, 2024: White swears off politics in an interview with The New Yorker, saying, “I am by no means f–ing doing this once more. … It is gross. It is disgusting. I need nothing to do with politics.”

• Jan. 6, 2025: Mark Zuckerberg, a UFC fan and jiu-jitsu practitioner, appoints White to the Meta board of administrators. The Associated Press suggests the transfer may very well be partly motivated by a need to curry favor with the incoming presidential administration.

• Jan. 20, 2025: At Trump’s presidential inauguration ceremony, White has a distinguished seat among the many 600 within the Capitol Rotunda behind presidents Invoice Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

• April 12, 2025: Trump attends UFC 314 at Kaseya Middle in Miami, then UFC 316 at Prudential Middle in Newark, New Jersey, two months later.

• July 3, 2025: Trump makes the primary public point out of a potential UFC struggle card on the White Home throughout a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, to kick off a yearlong celebration of the 250th anniversary of america. Trump says he needs upward of 20,000 spectators in attendance on the White Home grounds for the fights on July 4, 2026. He additionally states his intention to host a competition on the Nationwide Mall in Washington, D.C., and an athletic competitors for highschool college students from throughout the nation.

“So each one in every of our nationwide parks, battlefields and historic websites are going to have particular occasions in honor of America 250,” Trump says, “And I even suppose we’ll have a UFC struggle.”

Regardless of Trump’s announcement, a White Home spokesperson says there are not any extra particulars to share. White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said that the president was “useless critical.”

• Aug. 28, 2025: Two weeks after White teased a visit to Washington to go to with Trump and his daughter Ivanka, the UFC CEO confirms that occasion planning with the White Home is underway.

“We had a gathering on the White Home, [which] couldn’t have gone higher,” White says in a reside video on Instagram. “It is gonna be superior. The White Home struggle is on. … I’ll have extra particulars on that within the subsequent couple of weeks.”

• Oct. 5, 2025: Trump says at a celebration of the U.S. Navy’s 250th anniversary that the White Home struggle card will happen on his eightieth birthday, June 14. Earlier that week, White claimed it might value the UFC $700,000 to exchange the grass on the South Garden after the occasion and that weigh-ins can be held on the Lincoln Memorial.

• Dec. 7, 2025: Trump claims that “eight or 9 championship fights” will happen on the White Home and that the UFC isn’t fielding anticipated matchups on different playing cards with a view to guide them for June 14. When requested concerning the matchmaking, White repeatedly says the UFC is not going to start arranging White Home fights till after the brand new yr.

• March 7, 2026: The UFC pronounces the White Home struggle card matchups throughout UFC 326 at T-Cellular Area in Las Vegas. In contrast to Trump’s prediction, the official announcement options one title struggle, an interim title struggle and 4 different bouts.

• April 11, 2026: Trump attends UFC 327 at Kaseya Middle in Miami. White recounts within the postfight information convention an trade he has with Trump, a fan of heavyweight Derrick Lewis, whom he’s identified to name after wins.

“About an hour in the past, the president leans over to me and says, ‘Why is Derrick Lewis not on the White Home card?”‘ White recollects. “And I stated, ‘Maintain on, Mr. President.’ I stepped away and known as Derrick Lewis and stated, ‘Derrick, the president simply requested why you are not on the cardboard. Do you need to struggle on the White Home card?’ He stated, ‘After all.'”

Through the struggle card, Josh Hokit is victorious in opposition to Curtis Blaydes in one of the entertaining heavyweight fights of the yr. White says within the information convention that he discovered Hokit stepping into an ambulance after the struggle and rewarded him with a matchup in opposition to Lewis on the White Home card.

• April 25, 2026: Trump attends the White Home Correspondents’ Affiliation Dinner for the primary time as a sitting president and White is “proper in entrance of the place the president was,” in keeping with the UFC CEO. The president, vp and their spouses are rushed out of the ballroom after gunshots ring out. White recounts to reporters that visitors within the ballroom have been instructed to take cowl however that he didn’t obey. As a substitute, he describes an “superior” expertise.

“Inside, they began up. Swiftly, it simply began getting noisy,” White tells reporters. “Tables getting flipped over, guys working in with weapons they usually have been screaming, ‘Get down!’ I did not get down — it was f—ing superior. I actually took each minute of it in. It was a fairly loopy, distinctive expertise.”

• Might 6, 2026: Trump hosts UFC fighters on the Freedom 250 struggle card within the Oval Workplace. Light-weight champion Ilia Topuria and his challenger, interim champion Justin Gaethje, are there with Ciryl Gane and Alex Pereira, who will struggle for the interim heavyweight title. Through the promotional occasion, Trump reveals renderings of the venue on the White Home’s South Garden.

“As you understand, [on] June 14, we’re having a giant struggle,” Trump says. “It is by no means gonna occur once more. It is by no means occurred earlier than.”

• Might 11, 2026: White writes a letter to Trump, asking him to implore Congress to reverse a provision inside the One Large Stunning Invoice Act that locations a 90% restrict on playing loss deductions. “The present legislation makes it irrational to guess in america since you may find yourself owing taxes even whenever you lose or having a tax invoice that exceeds your winnings for the yr,” White writes. “The UFC helps a wholesome, authorized sports activities betting market to drive fan engagement, broadcast worth and sponsorships. When authorized betting is discouraged, it hurts the ecosystem we have spent years constructing in partnership with state regulators and licensed operators.”

• Might 29, 2026: Monetary disclosures for Trump’s belief fund reveal that it acquired stock in TKO Group Holdings, the dad or mum firm of UFC and WWE, on March 25, weeks after White introduced the Freedom 250 fights. Whereas the precise determine is unknown, between $15,001 and $50,000 value of TKO inventory is disclosed.

• June 1, 2026: Trump tells Fox Information that “you may by no means see it once more” in reference to the White Home internet hosting Freedom 250 and that he is anticipating excessive viewership scores. “Dana is a tremendous man,” Trump says. “He is performed a tremendous job, he is put collectively one thing that — this would be the highest-rated occasion, possibly one in every of them ever in sports activities.”