As fans of mixed martial arts focus on action inside the UFC "Octagon," others might keep an eye on financial arrangements tied to a peculiarly Trumpian event

Diego Lopes celebrates his UFC victory on the White House lawn (Getty)

Aficionados of mixed martial arts likely were enraptured with the bouts themselves at last night's Trump-inspired UFC event on the White House lawn. But Americans in general might be wise to focus on financial arrangements surrounding the fight card. That's from a report at MS NOW under the headline "How Trump and his allies could profit from the UFC fights at the White House." Laura Barron-Lopez writes:

Mixed martial arts fighters parading through the chamber of the Lincoln Memorial before descending its steps for a face-off and press conference. Weigh-ins on the Ellipse. A star-spangled 90-foot “Claw” towering over the White House South Lawn. An octagon-shaped ring turned prime ad space — sponsors including Bud Light, Crypto.com and Polymarket paid substantial sums to have their names displayed — with the “People’s House” as the backdrop. Thousands of seats surround the ring where fighters will square off on Sunday for “UFC Freedom 250,” which CEO Dana White has predicted will draw “Super Bowl-type numbers.”

Trump purchased tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of stock in UFC’s parent company while promoting the event, according to a May financial disclosure. He held a $1 million-per-plate fundraiser for his top super PAC the night before the cage match. And Trump “officially designed” a line of “Trump x UFC Freedom 250” medallions, which are selling for $250 to $12,000.

Those are just three of the ways the president stands to benefit from Sunday’s UFC event at the White House, which marks the president’s 80th birthday. 

Trump was expected to have one of the best seats in the house, right next to the ring -- better known as the "Octagon" in UFC parlance -- so he surely will enjoy the spectacle. But few people are apt to be surprised by news that a Trump-fueled event is expected to mix profit with pleasure. Barron-Lopez reports:

“This is a real distillation of this administration, which is to take public property and use it for private benefit,” said Brendan Ballou, a former Justice Department prosecutor who represented the plaintiffs who lost a court battle to stop the fight. “The danger in having corruption normalized is it will fundamentally tell the very rich and powerful that they are beyond reach of the law — and that message will extend beyond this administration.”

“The federal government is not making any money on this event. UFC is funding and paying for this entire event,” one official said, adding that no taxpayer dollars would be used “outside of what would be applied towards employees’ normal duties and responsibilities.” 

The second part of that quote, starting with the word "outside," is a classic "hedge statement." It also should be noted that the quoted official apparently asked to remain anonymous. Perhaps that's because sweaty athletes aren't the only ones who might be emitting a foul odor at this event. From the MS NOW report:

Whatever the financial arrangements, historians say there’s no real precedent for any of it. 

“I can’t think of any previous president doing anything like it,” said Marc Selverstone, a historian at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. “Of course, presidents have long hosted sporting engagements at the White House, from tennis to golf to bowling to even T-ball for kids. But I can’t think of anything that’s been so commercialized as the UFC event, nor anything as publicly martial or gladiatorial.” 

“Past presidents typically took extreme care to keep their private finances and business interests separate from the presidency,” said Nicole Anslover, a historian at Florida Atlantic University. “President Trump is breaking that precedent.”

The fight card, like a number of other White House projects, was staged in the great outdoors, but that does not mean such events are surrounded by transparency, Barron-Lopez writes:

The UFC fight isn’t the only construction project remaking the White House grounds this year — and it isn’t the only one where the administration has tried to control what the public sees. 

On Thursday, officials opened the UFC arena on the South Lawn for a press preview, allowing reporters to take photos and video. But they were barred from photographing or filming the demolished East Wing and the ongoing construction of Trump’s massive new ballroom nearby. One Secret Service officer even ordered a reporter to delete an iPhone photo he had taken of the construction site.

The Claw itself is also a break from precedent, Anslover said. Trump’s predecessors altered the White House grounds to accommodate personal sports and hobbies — Harry Truman added a bowling alley, privately funded by friends from Missouri, and Barack Obama had part of a tennis court converted to double as a basketball court; Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter had an ice rink installed  for White House Christmas receptions in 1980— but those were for private use, not “a massive structure to be used for public profit-making events,” Anslover told MS NOW.

Neither the White House nor the UFC seemed anxious to answer simple questions about the event, Barron-Lopez notes:

The White House would not answer basic questions about how much access UFC fighters will have to the White House grounds, including whether they will emerge from the Oval Office — as TIME magazine has reported — or the Executive Mansion’s Red and Green rooms for their walkouts to the caged octagon. 

The White House referred MS NOW to the UFC; the UFC did not respond to a request for comment. A White House official told MS NOW that fighters will have dressing rooms in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building and make their way from that building on what’s known as the “tradesman route,” historically used by contractors and service workers. They’ll enter the venue through the Palm Room doors, the official said, which open to the Rose Garden.

As for who will tend to the fighters, the White House said the UFC is using its own medical corps to manage the contestants’ medical needs, while the White House Medical Unit will be responsible for all patrons on the Ellipse and South Lawn.