Jimmy Kimmel has ridiculed Donald Trump over the sponsor attached to the president’s planned UFC event on the White House lawn, joking that it is the “perfect metaphor” for his administration.
During Thursday's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the late-night host turned his attention to Trump’s UFC Freedom 250 event, which coincides with the president’s 80th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the United States.
“We are now three days away from the first-ever UFC fight on the White House lawn,” Kimmel pointed out in his opening monologue Thursday.
“Right now, there’s a 46 percent chance of rain in Washington on Sunday. The UFC CEO Dana White said the fight will go on even if lightning strikes, which... if God wanted the White House to be struck by lightning, that would have happened 18 months ago,” the late-night host and prominent Trump critic joked. “So I think they’re pretty safe.
Kimmel then showed images of the 92-foot-tall, octagon-shaped stage that has been erected on the White House’s South Lawn to host the mixed martial arts event.
“It has eight sides, one for each year of our lives the president has ruined,” he joked.
“It is sponsored by Monster Energy drink. And could there be a better metaphor for this administration than a giant Monster Energy logo on the White House lawn? One of the Monster Energy flavors is Mango Loco, which would also be a great nickname for the president,” he concluded.
In a card that has been panned by fans online as underwhelming, Brazil’s Alex Pereira will meet France’s Ciryl Gane for the interim UFC heavyweight title on Sunday. Then, Spanish-Georgian lightweight champion Ilia Topuria takes on interim champion Justin Gaethje, one of just two Americans who currently hold even a share of the UFC’s 11 championship belts.
White told The Hollywood Reporter that Trump, a personal friend since the early days of the UFC, suggested the idea for the White House fights during the UFC 309 event at New York City's Madison Square Garden in November 2024, days after voters reelected him.
UFC chief content officer Craig Borsari told The Hollywood Reporter that he thought White was kidding when he first told him about staging an event at the White House.
But White said that while Trump is “funny,” he’s not a “joke around guy.”
“Literally, when he says something, consider it done,” White said.
The spectacle will stream live on Paramount+ in the U.S. and the U.K.
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