The UFC event at the White House will feature some of the world’s toughest men, with President Donald Trump expected to watch the brutal and bloody action June 14 on the South Lawn..
On Time Magazine’s latest cover is the orchestrator of it all: Dana White, the UFC’s CEO. In a story by Sean Gregory, White shares his disdain for the public disclosure of mental health problems.
“Don’t show that weakness to anybody,” he told Time.
White, 56, has shown little, if any, weakness as the UFC makes final preparations for one of the most audacious events in sports history.
“Now we go in and start building all the bells and whistles,” White told the magazine. “We’ve got to get it all dialed in, and then we have to execute that night. We’re putting on the most historic sporting event in history, and now we have to deliver. We will absolutely, positively deliver.”
Who’s on Dana White’s guest list?
According to Time, White has invited the following celebrities: Adam Sandler, Guy Ritchie, Tom Brady, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jared Leto, Jason Statham and Mario Lopez.
UFC expects to lose money
White told Time that the UFC will lose about $30 million on the event. But the investment still will pay off based on the comments of Mark Shapiro, President and Chief Operating Officer of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of UFC.
“This is the greatest earned marketing tool of all time,” Shapiro told Time. “It’s a once-in-a-generation moment. The kind of attention, awareness, and sampling we’re going to get from audiences around the world, on that day alone, will be more than we could get in an entire year.”
Dissing Jon Jones
White has repeatedly called Jon Jones the greatest fighter in UFC history but that wasn’t enough to secure Jones a spot on the White House card. While Jones has said he got lowballed during negotiations over pay, White tells a different story about Jones’ omission from the event.
“I have to build a card of people that I’m confident in and I believe will show up to the fight,” White told Time. “And Jon Jones is the least dependable guy that you could ever know.”
The Tate brothers
Last year White invited Andrew and Tristan Tate to one of his “Power Slap” events. The Tate brothers face charges of rape and human trafficking in Romania and Great Britain and they have denied the charges, When White welcomed them to his event in March 2025, he embraced Andrew Tate.
“I have no beef with those guys,” White told the magazine.
The birth of UFC Freedom 250
It was Trump who initiated the idea for the UFC event at the White House.
“Trump planted the seeds for UFC 250, leaning over to White at the 2024 Madison Square Garden fight 11 days after his re-election and suggesting a White House card,” Time reports.
Initially, Trump objected to Joe Rogan calling the event a “gimmick.”
No more.
“At first I thought, ‘That’s not nice,’” Trump told Time. “And then I realized, it is a gimmick. Life is a gimmick, if you think about it, right? But it’s a good gimmick. It’s something that will never happen again. Nobody will ever have the privilege of doing something like this in front of the White House. It’s going to be very unique. It’s going to be amazing. I think it’s great for America, frankly.”
No women on the UFC White House card
The seven-fight card for the White House event includes a noticeable omission: women.
“We did try to make a women’s fight,” White told Time. “We couldn’t get it done.”
White said he wanted Zhang Weili of China and Mackenzie Dern, an American and Brazilian fighter, to face off in a title bout, according to Time. But White told the magazine Zhang is taking time off from fighting.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: White House UFC Freedom 250 card stars Dana White, Donald Trump
