Appearing on The Pat McAfee Show, UFC CEO Dana White made a point of separating the UFC’s upcoming Freedom 250 event from any political association, even as the card is scheduled to take place on the south lawn of the White House with President Donald Trump in attendance.
When asked about the myths he wanted to clear up surrounding the event, White was direct about where he stood on the political optics.
“I don’t care if you’re far right, far left, right down the middle, wherever you sit politically, because everybody sits somewhere politically these days,” White said. “This isn’t about politics. This is about the United States. What this country is about, how it was built, where we all came from.”
He continued, “If you love America, you’re going to love this event. It has nothing to do with politics. We just happen to be on the White House lawn and the president of the United States will be there.”
White also addressed the financial side of the event, pushing back against the idea that taxpayers are footing the bill for a politically connected spectacle.
“We’re paying the entire bill on all of this. Everything that you’re seeing, not one dollar of taxpayer money will go into this,” he said. “This is the UFC’s gift to the 250th birthday of America.”
The episode also featured a notable joint appearance with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, to announce UFC 330 coming to Philadelphia in August. McAfee framed the pairing as evidence of White operating across party lines.
“Dana’s just doing business on both sides of the aisle,” McAfee said. “I think a lot of people would just judge Dana and just consider him to be some far-right guy who hasn’t obviously had to work with both sides of the political system.”
Governor Shapiro echoed a similar sentiment.
“Dana and I may have some political differences, but we both understand the power of UFC,” Shapiro said. “We understand the power of sports to bring people together. I just believe sports is a great way to speak a common language, bring people together.”
White responded warmly to the Philadelphia announcement. “We love Philly. When you think about Philly, you think about figh ting,” White said. “Pennsylvania is doing everything right now. They got the NFL draft in Pittsburgh, the World Cup’s coming to Philly, PGA Championship in Philly this year, and now a numbered UFC event.”
