WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump walked out to the strains of Kid Rock’s “American Bad Ass” and a roaring standing ovation just before he took a familiar cageside seat at a 2024 UFC event at Madison Square Garden. Long a fan of cage fighting before he entered the political arena, Trump has rooted on the bloodthirsty bouts and congratulated winners — he likes winners so much — for more than 25 years at UFC shows from Florida to New York to New Jersey.

He’s just never had a home game.

Trump’s next walkout will be the president’s shortest one yet, from the Oval Office to the Octagon for the implausible sports spectacle on the South Lawn of the White House billed as UFC Freedom 250.

The mixed martial arts show on Sunday night that is streaming on Paramount+ is timed for Trump’s 80th birthday and the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

First there was the fight for independence! Now the biggest fight of ’em all is for the lightweight championship!

Or something like that.

Trump first publicly floated the idea of a UFC fight night at the White House at a July 2025 rally in Iowa and promised a “full fight” with 20,000 to 25,000 people. Some of the top stars in the sport lobbied — it is Washington, after all — for a spot on the card; Conor McGregor wrote on social media, “ Count me in.”

Count McGregor out. Same for Jon Jones and Ronda Rousey, who took her comeback match to Netflix rather than a date in Washington on UFC’s streaming service. As for those 25,000 fans on site, that’s a bit of a hyperbolic political speech from the president, with about 4,000-plus people expected at the temporary arena; but outside, up to 120,000 fans, who won free admission via lottery, are expected to watch in the open air at the Ellipse, a prominent public park south of the White House.

The true star of the $60 million-plus show is the unprecedented setting where a cage was constructed on the traditional site of the Easter egg roll every spring. The White House had to make room for the Claw, a four-sided mass that arcs more than 90 feet (27 meters) into the air and features lights, speakers, thick snakes of wiring and four large screens so fans not seated right next to the Octagon can follow the cage fighting below.

The undertaking might seem crazy to those who diss the fight game or have unfavorable reviews of the current administration.

It’s just another day for Trump, who is still navigating a war with Iran, attended the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April that was cut short by a shooting, boasted this week about his love of soaring inflation, shut down parts of Manhattan when he attended an NBA Finals game in New York and even had the staging of the Freedom 250 challenged by a federal lawsuit that was rejected Friday.

So, the show will go on for UFC.

Oh yeah. The fights!

The seven-bout card has largely been ignored outside of the MMA diehards, with all the hype of what UFC CEO Dana White has called a “1 of 1 event” focused more on the uniqueness of fighters training in front of the Washington Monument and a news conference at the Lincoln Memorial, among other promotional stops around the nation’s capital.

“It’s going to be a pain in the ass getting in and out of there,” White said. “Once you’re in, it’s going to be incredible. As long as the weather is good, it’s going to be amazing.”

White says the outdoor show will go on rain or shine. The Friday night news conference at the Lincoln Memorial was delayed for about an hour because of lightning.

In a card that has been panned by fans online as underwhelming, Alex Pereira of Brazil will meet Ciryl Gane of France for the interim UFC heavyweight title. Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria then takes on interim champ Justin Gaethje, one of just two Americans who currently hold even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.

There are five other fights on the main card that include former title-fight participants Michael Chandler and Derrick Lewis and former 135-pound champion Sean O’Malley.

Middleweight Bo Nickal, a three-time NCAA Division I wrestling champion at Penn State, has forged a friendly relationship with Trump after they met in 2019 at the White House during a ceremony for collegiate national champions.

“As somebody who is as powerful and busy and doing all the things that he’s doing, he does take time out of his day to give me a call once in a while,” said Nickal, who takes on Philadelphia fighter Kyle Daukaus. “I’ve been golfing with him a couple of times. It’s surreal to be able to do that. I grew up in a town of 5,000 people in Wyoming, and to be able to golf with the president and hang out with him is like, unbelievable.”

Up next, Nickal gets to fight in front of him.

He just won’t fight on national broadcast television.

Rather than air the show or at least portions of the card on CBS, the Freedom 250 is being used to drive subscriptions on Paramount, which is controlled by the Ellison family, also close allies of Trump, and this year became the new home to UFC events across the United States as part of a $7.7 billion, seven-year deal.

White had vowed Super Bowl-type viewership (125.6 million this year) after the date was announced, though streaming will severely curtail those numbers. If UFC and Paramount can snag some subscribers though casual viewers interested in either patriotism or a potential trainwreck, maybe they’ll become new fans.

Just getting to the White House is the big win.

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AP MMA: https://apnews.com/hub/mixed-martial-arts

Dan Gelston, The Associated Press