Dana White says it's an 'honor' to build a fight arena on the White House lawn

It's been hard to imagine the scene planned for the Trump White House on June 14: Mixed martial arts fighters in a cage match on the South Lawn.

Though it's easier to visualize this week, as the Ultimate Fighting Championship has begun setting up bleachers and a giant arch for the planned event. The work is visible to tourists and TV cameras. The UFC also released a rendering of the event, showing several thousand spectators surrounding a fenced-in octagon, the UFC's trademark, where a series of men will face off.

In an interview for the NPR video podcast Newsmakers, Dana White, President Trump's friend and the head of the UFC, voiced some doubt about what he's being asked to do.

"There's two things I hate. I hate stadiums, and even worse than a stadium is fighting outside," White said. "There's just so many variables… rain and lightning… bugs."

White nonetheless took on the task of building a temporary outdoor stadium.

"We're celebrating America's 250th birthday on the lawn of the White House. And, you know, there possibly couldn't be a greater honor than that, especially for me as an American," he said.

The unprecedented event is sure to draw polarizing opinions, which is true of the UFC itself.

A sport linked for decades with Donald Trump

White tells a story of assuming control of the UFC in 2001, when MMA fighting was so disreputable he couldn't find appropriate venues. Trump invited the UFC to stage events at his Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City.

White's UFC fought its way up to become a multi-billion dollar business by showcasing fighters who were also fighting their way up from the bottom.

"People that are this tough come from some tough backgrounds," White said, adding that what makes a UFC fight successful is not only its physical ferocity but the story of the fighters. "Who are you and where do you come from? That's what I sell every Saturday night."

As our discussion makes clear, many fighters come from immigrant and refugee backgrounds, and we discuss the seeming irony of sending them to a showcase before the president with a strict immigration policy.

We also get into the brutal downside of the sport: head injuries, which White considers an unavoidable cost of MMA.

Above all we have a conversation with a man who speaks to younger men — an important demographic in American politics and a group that forms the core of the UFC audience. Young people tend to vote for Democrats, but many young men voted for Trump in 2024 and are up for grabs in future elections.

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