WASHINGTON — Two presidents walked side by side as they made their way through the Oval Office and down to the South Lawn.
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Crossing a red carpet adorned by red and blue stars atop a white border, America’s Donald Trump and the UFC’s Dana White soon arrived at a 30-foot cage where men were moments away from punching, kicking and choking each other until someone either went to sleep, tapped or a referee stepped in to stop it.
And that was just the start of UFC Freedom 250.
The mixed martial arts extravaganza saw 14 fighters compete Sunday night underneath a 92-foot structure called “The Claw” that was set up just steps away from the most important office in the world.
It was all to mark Trump’s 80th birthday and America’s 250th anniversary, a night of celebration for the president given added impetus by the announcement hours earlier of a tentative deal with Iran.
Surrounding the octagon were more than 4,000 spectators that included members of Trump’s administration and special VIPs — including Mark Zuckerberg, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, FBI Director Kash Patel and many others.
When the national anthem was sung before the first fight of the night, a group of bomber planes buzzed overhead, drawing a rave response from the crowd.
Trump sat cageside — to the right of his wife, Melania, and left of White — for the entirety of the night.
After Diego Lopes brutally knocked out Steve Garcia following a back-and-forth slugfest, Lopes put on his trademark cowboy hat and hopped up on the ring to celebrate with the crowd. He beat his chest a few feet above Trump, who smiled and applauded.
That was the first of many interactions fighters had with Trump.
In the next bout, Bo Nickal landed a left hook followed by a short right that dropped Kyle Daukaus to the mat midway through Round 1. He jumped on his opponent and continued to rain down blows before the referee put a stop to the fight. Immediately after he hopped the cage and went to see Trump. They shook hands and exchanged words while Trump’s hair flew in the air as the winds picked up. He then put on a white hat to keep everything intact for the remainder of the night.
Mauricio Ruffy, Sean O’Malley and Josh Hokit — who drew a mixture of laughs and scoffs in the crowd for invoking an unfounded right-wing conspiracy theory that former first lady Michell Obama is “a man” — were all victorious leading to the co-main event.
In that bout, Ciryl Gane claimed the interim heavyweight title with a shocking knockout of former light heavyweight and middleweight champion Alex Peireira. When the referee stepped in to end it early, the crowd was so perplexed it was silent for a few seconds before the music came on and fans started clapping.
The main event, which didn’t start until after 12:30 a.m. ET, also delivered.
