By Nandita Bose
DES MOINES (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he is planning to bring an Ultimate Fighting Championship event to the White House next year to help celebrate the 250th anniversary of the country’s declaration of independence.
Known in the mixed martial arts world as the “Combatant in Chief,” Trump counts UFC President Dana White as a close friend and considers fans of the sport part of his political base.
Trump made the announcement during a winding speech that ricocheted from topic to topic at the Iowa state fairgrounds. The fairgrounds event served as a prelude to July 4 Independence Day celebrations on Friday.
“We’re going to have a UFC fight, think of this, on the grounds of the White House,” Trump said.
“We have a lot of land there. We are going to build a little – we are not, Dana (White) is going to do it … we are going to have a UFC fight, championship fight, full fight, like 20-25,000 people, and we are going to do that as part of 250 also,” he said, referring to the country’s anniversary of independence.
Trump has been a regular attendee at UFC fights, most recently attending one in New Jersey in June.
UFC and its parent company TKO Group Holdings did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Kanishka Singh and Steve Holland; Editing by Tom Hogue)
