{"id":1733,"date":"2026-06-14T23:03:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T23:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1733"},"modified":"2026-06-14T23:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T23:03:32","slug":"ufc-fighters-descend-on-lincoln-memorial-ahead-of-white-house-bouts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1733","title":{"rendered":"UFC fighters descend on Lincoln Memorial ahead of White House bouts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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One by one, the burly mixed martial arts fighters made their entrance past the solemn, hulking marble statue of America’s 16th president and jogged down the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to roars from thousands of fans drawn to the unusual sporting weekend marking the nation’s 250th anniversary and President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday.<\/p>\n

Read more Kennedy Center begins removing President Trump\u2019s name after court deadline<\/a><\/p>\n

The news conference Friday night featured the fighters who are preparing to face off Sunday in the Octagon built outside the White House. But it was also a chance to see the UFC fans who have thronged to Washington and endured lightning, humidity and bugs for the spectacle.<\/p>\n

Tracy Philbeck and his son Levi drove from Charlotte, North Carolina, with a group of friends to support their favorite fighter, American Justin Gaethje, in the upcoming lightweight title bout against Georgian Ilia Topuria.<\/p>\n

“You will hear an eagle screaming when Justin Gaethje wins,\u201d the elder Philbeck chuckled.<\/p>\n

RELATED STORY | <\/b>DOJ cites 1800s White House baseball games in lawsuit trying to stop UFC event<\/b><\/p>\n

David Halstead journeyed from Albany, in Western Australia, to watch the sport he has loved for a decade. Halstead said Trump, who regularly attends the fights, \u201cput UFC on the map.”<\/p>\n

The UFC has said it spent $60 million on this weekend’s festivities, and Republican president has billed it as \u201cthe greatest show on earth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone agrees.<\/p>\n

The Public Integrity Project described the event as a \u201cprivate, commercial, corrupt use of our most sacred national monuments for private gain\u201d in a lawsuit the watchdog group filed to try to stop it from happening on federal land. A federal judge ruled on Friday that the White House was allowed to go ahead.<\/p>\n

Only about 1 in 10 U.S. adults consider themselves mixed martial arts fans, according to Ipsos Sports polling conducted in February and March. That polling suggests MMA fans skew male and nonwhite. They are more likely to identify as Republicans than Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne misconception is that everyone who watches UFC is a Trump supporter, but that\u2019s not the case,” said Ricardo Rodriguez, 24, explaining he loves the physicality of the sport. \u201cPeople also expect a knock out every time,” he said.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump holds phone calls with Putin and Zelenskyy on his 80th birthday<\/a><\/p>\n

Ellie Louizes, who practices Muay Thai, or Thai kickboxing, and jujitsu martial arts, drove from Daytona Beach, Florida, with her boyfriend, Jacob Purvis.<\/p>\n

RELATED STORY | <\/b>White House tests lights and stage equipment ahead of UFC fight on the lawn this Sunday<\/b><\/p>\n

Female fans of MMA are the minority. But Louizes said she knows a lot of women who get into watching the sport through their male partners. She said \u201cfemale fighters are often way more aggressive\u201d than the men.<\/p>\n

Fans brushed off the criticism about White House as host<\/b><\/p>\n

The fans at the Lincoln Memorial brushed off criticism about the bouts being held at the White House.<\/p>\n

Holding fights at the \u201cPeople’s House,\u201d Tracy Philbeck said, “goes back to the days of Teddy Roosevelt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roosevelt regularly held sparring sessions at the White House, though they were not formal public prizefights. He was an enthusiastic amateur boxer who had boxed at Harvard and continued the sport throughout much of his life.<\/p>\n

Boxing fans also make up a large part of the UFC’s fan base.<\/p>\n

At a UFC-sponsored community event this week at the District of Columbia’s Midtown Youth Academy, the boxing gym’s executive director was helping out with a visit from UFC fighter Randy Brown, who sparred with more than dozen local teenagers and preteens.<\/p>\n

Gloria Lee said meeting the fighter was a big deal for kids at her gym. \u201cIt’s just been a thrilling week, and I was about to fall out when he came in the door!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Asked about her personal UFC fandom, Lee said she had not watched it much. But by the end of Brown’s visit, she got into the ring with the professional fighter and threw some slugs of her own.<\/p>\n

Read more Multiple people arrested in New York City as Knicks fans celebrate NBA championship<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UFC fighters and fans filled D.C. landmarks for White House bouts tied to Trump\u2019s 80th birthday and the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1732,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\nUFC fighters descend on Lincoln Memorial ahead of White House bouts - Arizona Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1733\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UFC fighters descend on Lincoln Memorial ahead of White House bouts - Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UFC fighters and fans filled D.C. landmarks for White House bouts tied to Trump\u2019s 80th birthday and the nation\u2019s 250th anniversary.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arizonamovinginsider.com\/?p=1733\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arizona Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-14T23:03:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\"},\"headline\":\"UFC fighters descend on Lincoln Memorial ahead of White House bouts\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-14T23:03:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733\"},\"wordCount\":707,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/cd4e0a2ee06f66fc4df4e4a93fe13add.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733\",\"name\":\"UFC fighters descend on Lincoln Memorial ahead of White House bouts - Arizona Moving Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/cd4e0a2ee06f66fc4df4e4a93fe13add.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-14T23:03:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9c272b4cf18e019eb01eb3c1b5d855fb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/?p=1733#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/cd4e0a2ee06f66fc4df4e4a93fe13add.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arizonamovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/cd4e0a2ee06f66fc4df4e4a93fe13add.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":682,\"caption\":\"The arena for the UFC Freedom 250 fights on the South Lawn of the White House is photographed Thursday, June 11, 2026, in Washington. 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