NPR’s Steve Inskeep speaks with investigative sports journalist Karim Zidan about the politics of the UFC fight night at the White House.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Karim Zidan was watching the fights last night. He is an independent journalist who covers the UFC and mixed martial arts. Welcome back to the program.
KARIM ZIDAN: Always a pleasure to be here, Steve. Thanks for having me.
INSKEEP: Purely in terms of the fights, was this a success?
ZIDAN: Oh, it absolutely was. This was – like, let’s make no mistake about this. This was a grotesque propaganda spectacle, but it was masterfully executed by the UFC. The backdrop of the White House, a mass of 85,000 or so fans at The Ellipse that looked like they were having the time of their lives. There was live music. There was AI slop montages in tribute to America’s heroic past. There was all sorts of military fetishization going on, and of course, the fighters fawning over Trump after scoring violent knockouts, right? So even the weather reports, the projected rain held off. So really, it couldn’t have gone better for both the UFC or for Trump.
INSKEEP: Yeah, there were some delays and even some thunderstorms in the area but didn’t quite stop the event. You just described it as grotesque propaganda, though. I’d like to know if the propaganda worked. Did it help the president with his core supporters?
ZIDAN: I think so. And in general, the sense I get from the online space, looking at MMA fans and how they’re responding, even the people who are generally turned off by the politics and the spectacle of it said, oh, my God, at least it was a fantastic night of fights that was topped off by a exceptional main event that ended up in an upset victory for the American fighter. So you can say that in itself was sort of a storybook ending for the propaganda.
So with regards to the fans themselves, they enjoyed the night, which in turn helps them continue to resonate with Trump. So in terms of that connection he maintains with the youth, it’s fantastic. And then, of course, his core supporters, there were plenty of them in the audience. There were plenty of them there. There were plenty of them online celebrating America through this event. So it was absolutely a success.
INSKEEP: That upset that you mentioned, it was a championship fight. Ilia Topuria, who has a refugee background, was defeated by Justin Gaethje, who is fighting under the United States flag. You’re correct about that. So if Trump got something out of this, what about the UFC? What did they get?
ZIDAN: Oh, the UFC gets plenty from this. Beyond the fact that the UFC was once a ostracized organization that was almost expelled and bankrupted by Republicans in the United States, for it to emerge into an organization befitting a competition on the South Lawn of the White House is quite an achievement in and of itself. But the UFC is, beyond that, making a significant statement here. It’s a political one, saying that it has emerged as a true political force within America. And it’s reaping those benefits.
It just recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the State Department, meaning that they’re going to begin these sports diplomacy initiatives. That is formally integrating the UFC into foreign policy, into its soft power strategy. This is no longer just another sports organization, and it’s certainly not an ostracized one that used to be just referred to as barbaric. This is quintessentially America now.
INSKEEP: I’d like to ask about an aspect of these fights that maybe passes right by if you watch the UFC all the time, because I think it is normal for a UFC event. But there were sponsors everywhere. Bud Light, Monster Energy had a giant logo right there in the octagon. Bet365 commercials all the way through. And, of course, people had to pay to see this event. It’s on Paramount+, which is controlled by political supporters of the president. All of this is normal for the UFC, but this was happening on public property. Did that strike you as a little strange?
ZIDAN: It did strike me as a bit strange that the UFC didn’t actually pull back. As somebody who’s watched this happen before, this is a standard UFC event. So to the casual person who’s watching this maybe out of curiosity, or even if you’re hate-watching this, this might seem absurd. But this is just standard practice for the UFC. But I want to draw your attention to two things that actually were shocking to me. One of them was an ad that aired shortly before the main event, which was paid for by the Department of War. And this was just a horrible celebration of military might – bombs being dropped, tanks fired, raids conducted with Trump shouting things like peace through strength.
It was both dark and yet somehow perfectly befitting of the occasion. And one of the sponsors, and this is a sponsor that the UFC just got a couple of days ago, it’s a partnership with Anduril, which is this controversial defense tech startup. That, you know, it has all these contracts with the U.S. government, including a deal with Border Patrol, basically, to use AI-powered surveillance tech to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border. Like, so even when the UFC says that it spent $60 million on this event, they’ve recouped about half of that just in sponsorships.
INSKEEP: Karim Zidan, sports journalist and author, thanks so much.
ZIDAN: It’s a pleasure. Thank you.
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
