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White House Adds Lewis Fight After POTUS Urges UFC

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UFC fight
Photo Credit: Lee Brimelow, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

President Donald Trump forced a late shakeup to an upcoming White House fight card after pressing UFC leadership to add a new bout during a live event.

The push came while Trump sat cageside at UFC 327, where he attended as a guest of Dana White and quickly zeroed in on the lineup for the June event in Washington.

White detailed how fast the decision unfolded. “About an hour ago, the president leans over to me and says, ‘Why is Derrick Lewis not on the White House card?’ and I said, ‘Hold on, Mr. President.’”

“I stepped away and called Derrick Lewis and said, ‘Derrick, the president just asked why you’re not on the card. Do you want to fight on the White House card?’ He said, ‘Of course,’” White commented to the media.

That exchange immediately triggered a change to the card, locking in a bout between Derrick Lewis and Josh Hokit for the White House event.

Hokit had just secured a win earlier in the night when he learned he would be added to the card, a shift that came together while the event was still in progress.

Trump’s arrival drew a loud reaction from the crowd inside the arena. Fans stood and cheered as he entered with White and his two daughters, Ivanka and Tiffany, before the main card began.

He walked along the broadcast area, greeting commentators including Joe Rogan and Jon Anik before taking his seat.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio stood nearby as Trump approached, leaning in briefly to speak before the president turned back toward the crowd.

Trump responded by pumping his fist, pointing toward spectators, and waving as the arena continued to react to his presence.

White had previewed the visit earlier in the week. “It’s good to be back in Miami. Yeah, I’m pumped. We got the big guy coming on Saturday, too. He’s coming,” he said during a livestream appearance.

The appearance marked Trump’s return to a major sporting event since attending the college football national championship earlier in the year.

His schedule has included repeated stops at UFC events along with appearances at football games, racing events, and other high-profile competitions over the past year.

In 2025, Trump attended UFC 316 and a Miami fight night event. In 2024, he attended UFC 302 in June and UFC 309 in November.

He also attended last year’s Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, the NCAA wrestling championships, the FIFA Club World Cup final, the U.S. Open, a New York Yankees game, the Ryder Cup, and the Army-Navy game.

Reaction online split quickly after the appearance. “Does he know he started a war?” one critic wrote on X.

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“I mean the world is on fire,” another added. “But hey let’s use some tax money to attend a UFC fight.”

The backlash comes as tensions tied to U.S. involvement in Iran continue to draw attention, including from Rogan.

Rogan raised concerns about the conflict on a recent episode of his podcast. “The problem is from the outside, like the rest of the world, you look at this unnecessary aggression by the United States government… and then this war with Iran gets really ugly,” he said. “Because that’s how you start a World War III.”

“Who else thinks it’s a good idea to just attack a country that isn’t doing anything. They haven’t done anything,” he added.

He returned to the issue in a separate discussion. “It just seems so insane based on what he ran on,” he said. “This is why a lot of people feel betrayed… he ran on ‘No more wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it.”

“They’re all endless,” he added. Rogan has repeatedly rejected alignment with either political party.

“You’re just being manipulated… you have to pick a team,” he said during a conversation with Arsenio Hall. “I hate that.”

“It’s so stupid. I’m politically homeless,” he continued.

“I’ve always been political. I’ve been politically homeless for a long f—ing time. Neither one of them make any sense to me,” he said in another discussion.

He has also questioned the timing and location of the White House fight event.

“It sounds crazy. It’s going to be very high security and high stress and weird to have a fight at the White House in the middle of a f***ing war,” Rogan said.

“I would hope the war will be sorted out by June, but quite honestly, I’m not confident that’s going to be the case,” he added.

“It will be weird, having this high-profile event where everybody is in one place at one time right there,” he continued. “It seems like you’re asking [for trouble].”

The White House event is scheduled for June 14 as part of the America250 celebration, which also coincides with Trump’s 80th birthday.

The card will be headlined by Justin Gaethje and Ilia Topuria in a lightweight championship unification bout.

Organizers plan to stage the fights outdoors on the South Lawn, with seating for about 5,000 attendees and additional viewing space at the Ellipse.

“We’re gonna have big screens, a stage, music throughout the day,” White said. “We’re basically going to take over DC that whole week with lots of different things for fight fans.”

“The fighters will actually walk from the Oval Office to the Octagon.”

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