You could guess that a UFC event held at the White House might come equipped with lobbyists, but Daniel Cormier lobbying for his arch nemesis Jon Jones to be on the card is what they call in politics an early October surprise. Cormier likes Jon Jones about as much as Bill Clinton liked Paula Jones, and time hasn’t exactly healed those old wounds.
It says something that we’ve entered the pre-planning stages of the UFC’s promised White House card, which is being hypothesized for next June to commemorate the 250-year anniversary of American independence. If that doesn’t describe the day and age we are in, nothing will.
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Going back to at least Rutherford B. Hayes’ day, there have been Easter egg hunts on the White House lawn; in the Donald Trump era, cage fights.
The renderings that UFC CEO Dana White’s team of architects provided only helped make the thing feel a step closer to real. In them, there sits the White House in the backdrop, reflected pink by the fireworks exploding in the sky, as well as the lights coming off a main structure that arches over the Octagon on the West Lawn. That structure looks like the claw in an arcade crane-drop game, trying to scoop the cage up from the ground. If White had presented these designs while pointing an upturned pinky at his mouth, he’d have cut a spitting image of Dr. Evil.
From the Octagon, rows of people emanate outward from the action, ascending into makeshift stands that form a bowl-like enclosure for Capitol intimacy. There will be two big screens on either side of the White House itself, providing alternatives for those sitting at tricky angles. The whole thing is of course outdoors, which the UFC has always been against due to concerns of weather. White says that as many as 5,000 spectators will be allowed on hand to see this historical event, the spectacular blur between country and sport. Or, in his own words, this one-of-one incredible opportunity.
“Not only for the fans [and] for the sport, but for the fighters,” he told Fox News.
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“For the fighters to be able to be a part of something like this, it’s incredible. And for the fans, I mean — come to Washington, D.C., all week, and go to these historic places and be able to enjoy UFC, all of the history D.C. has. It’s a one-of-one experience.”
It will definitely be that.
Which brings us around to the fighters, many of whom are now clearing their calendars for June in hopes of landing the gig. The biggest fighters in the sport have also been the most dormant of late, most notably Conor McGregor, who hasn’t fought since 2021 and only a couple of weeks ago was angling to become the next president of Ireland (ahem). Yet nothing motivates a fighter quite like a one-of-one event.
McGregor would love nothing more than to make his return in Washington, where he visited President Trump this past St. Patrick’s Day, and he told Fox News he’s a lock to do just that.
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“The Mac is excited to be back,” he said. “I’m on [the White House card], this is me.”
Who will he face?
“Michael Chandler and myself,” he said, gritting his teeth. “We’ve done ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ We’ve had a good back and forth. He’s a good, tough guy.”
That’s the fight we were supposed to get in June 2024, before a broken toe kept McGregor from competing. A fight with Chandler would have no active title stakes, yet it is perhaps McGregor’s best chance to win. The American Chandler will be 40 years old by the time next summer rolls around and has lost five of his past six bouts. Still, it’s blockbuster enough for the occasion, given that McGregor remains the sport’s biggest draw even though the last time he fought we were in the early throes of an entirely different administration.
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And Conor’s not alone in his desire to fight at the House of White. Another volunteer who has very publicly waved his arm in the air is none other than Jon Jones, the former heavyweight champion whose vacated belt hasn’t even been defended since his short-lived retirement. Jones didn’t want anything to do with the interim champion Tom Aspinall, but a date at the White House seems to him too good to pass up. He made that clear when interviewed at the MTV Video Music Awards a couple of weeks back.
“I am not retired,” he said, “I’m actively training five days a week and I’m in the UFC’s drug-testing pool.”
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When asked specifically about the White House card, Jones set his wish upon a star.
“I don’t really know — it’s kind of out of my control right now. I’m training for the event, I’ll be ready for the event, that’s my goal, that’s my intention, but ultimately it’s up to the boss.”
The boss, Dana White, lives in Las Vegas, where handicapping is a way of life. He put Jones’ odds of fighting on his special card at a billion to one, which most books wouldn’t touch. The reason for the long odds is that Jones has proven incredibly unreliable going back to UFC 151, when he refused a last-minute opponent switch from Dan Henderson to Chael Sonnen to save an otherwise lackluster pay-per-view. Jones’ record since that time is just as impressive in the cage as it is out.
White might be playing hard to get, but bringing in Jones for his ode to America would seem a risky proposition … though an American trying to overthrow a British champion might prove a little too on the nose for the occasion.
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There are others out there, too. Colby Covington would die of FOMO if he weren’t placed on the card. So would Jorge Masvidal, a MAGA man through and through. Did anybody see that Ronda Rousey saying that she’s “finding her love for the sport again?” You don’t think that … she’s not consid— … you don’t think … is she talking abo— … nooooo…
Who would’ve ever seen this coming?
(MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images via Getty Images)
But Cormier advocating for Jones being on the card was the kind of endorsement that kicked things into high gear. Now we are getting down to the nitty-gritty.
“I think if [Jones] wants to fight, I would let him fight,” Cormier said on his YouTube. “Because, for as much as mixed martial arts is a global sport — and it’s a sport that everybody loves, we support people from all around the world at the end of the day — we’re fighting at the White House. You want American people that can win at the end of the night.
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“Noche UFC [on Sept. 13] had six Mexican-born fighters, they won all six fights. They had three American fighters of Mexican descent and they all won. It felt good for the people leaving the arena that night because the people they went to support had all found success. Imagine if we’re on the White House lawn and Americans aren’t winning fights. That can happen.”
Jones hears the words White House and he thinks wild times, but when his greatest rival is out there trying to make his dream come true? Saying that Jones is the great American hope for a one-of-one mega-card at the White House?
Wild times indeed.
