The White House has been holding sports for a long time, and mixed martial arts is violent, but the son named Calvin Coolidge died a century ago from a tennis injury.
Trump: The White House will host UFC fight for America’s 250th birthday
President Donald Trump has announced plans for the White House to host the UFC battle for America’s 250th birthday next year.
WASHINGTON – Beyond working on Congress and foreign enemies, President Donald Trump will host the White House’s first UFC battle next summer.
A longtime fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Trump has planned the event for up to 20,000 spectators and live television audiences. The Mixed Martial Arts Battle cards will be part of the 250th anniversary celebration.
It’s rare to build eight cages on the grass to the south or weigh athletes at the UFC’s Lincoln Memorial, but the historic site routinely hosts sports from tennis to T-ball. The president’s son died a century ago from a tennis injury.
Here’s what you need to know about how the president has dabbled in sports preferences for over a century:
According to the White House Historical Society, Teddy Roosevelt built a tennis court in 1902, in the shadow of an office building now known as the West Wing, near what is now known as the West Wing.
Amidst the reverberation of that history, Trump recently signed an executive order to return the Department of Defense to bring it back to the war division, but the agency moved to five sides of the Potomac River.
Sports are dangerous without brawling in the UFC’s Octagon, an eight-sided cage. In 1924, according to the Historical Society, the son named Calvin Coolidge swam his right foot while playing tennis without socks, and died of blood poisoning at the age of 16.
On the calm side, the bowling lane was first installed indoors in 1947, and Richard Nixon was an avid bowler. The first Dufferd Wight Eisenhower installed a putting green in the 1950s, when Trump decorated it.
South Lawn could be the coolest place for ice skating in 1980 when Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden built a temporary rink for the holidays in 2023.
At the first event, Olympic gold medalist Peggy Fleming performed during holiday parties for the Secret Service, military aides and other staff. The latter event allowed military families, first responders and educator children to race skates for a turn. The National Hockey League and its players provided lessons.
Arrived in 2009, Barack Obama doubled his tennis court to use for basketball, playing against aides such as the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan and other visitors. The White House had a small basketball court since 1991, but the edited court allowed a full court game.
The White House held a T-ball game on South Lawn since 2001 when George W. Bush, the former owner of the Texas Rangers, became president. The field included pitcher mounds, dugouts and bleachers, and featured a hot dog and burger menu.
What brings the UFC to the White House?
Bringing the UFC to the White House, a decades-long friendship between Trump and UFC CEO Dana White reached its peak.
The first UFC battle held under the ownership of White and his partners took place in January 2001 at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Trump “gives us a start when no one spoke to us,” White told Fox News in 2018.
White introduced Trump at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Trump has attended several UFC events as president.
In his speech in Iowa on July 3rd, Trump proposed that the fight would be one of the events celebrating the country’s 250.th Anniversary one year later.
“All of our national park battlefields and historic locations will host special events at American Honor 250,” Trump said. “We’re going to play a UFC fight on the White House grounds.”
White made it clear in an Instagram post on August 28th.
“The White House battle has begun,” White said in a photo of him holding Trump’s hand. “I accomplished that today.”
