Wayne Mack

The UFC is hosting fights at the White House tonight. Here's what you need to know: 1. The UFC is spending $60 million to put on this event. That's way more than the $3-4 million the company typically spends to put on an event and three times the $20 million it spent at the Las Vegas Sphere in 2024. 2. The UFC sold $30 million in corporate sponsorship deals — Ram Trucks, Crypto(.)com, Polymarket, Bud Light — with individual packages selling for $1.5 million. 3. Since tickets are being given out for free, the event is expected to lose about $30 million. 4. The UFC's $7.7 billion media rights deal with Paramount allows some fights to be simulcast on CBS, but tonight's entire event will only be available on the Paramount+ streaming service. 5. There will be 4,000 people on the South Lawn for the event — Trump controls about 1,000 tickets, with Dana White and Ari Emanuel controlling another 500 or so. The remaining seats were given to active duty military members. These military members had to meet body composition standards and pay for their own travel. 6. The UFC installed a giant arch over the octagon known as the Claw. The structure is massive — 60 tons, 154 feet wide, and 92 feet high, with a 100-by-100-foot canopy and 800 lighting fixtures — and since the UFC isn't allowed to dig into the South Lawn, engineers added 40 tons of weight to each leg to hold it down. 7. The Claw was flown from Belgium to Philadelphia, test-assembled in Philly, and then trucked down to DC. Each truck was placed in storage before being searched by the Secret Service, and the UFC needed 38 days to assemble everything (compared to their normal 2 days). 8. The UFC is covering all production costs, but taxpayers are still on the hook for $10-12 million in supplemental security costs. The White House says this money would have been spent anyway and that it comes from a federal fund (approved by Congress) specifically allocated for events surrounding the country's 250th birthday. 9. Since attendance on the South Lawn is invite-only (and limited to 4,000 people), the UFC is holding a watch party at the Eliipise. Roughly 85,000 tickets have been distributed for free, and while the UFC plans to sell food, beverages, and merchandise, Dana White told ESPN that "the government will get a piece of it." 10. Every fighter will be wearing custom red, white, and blue gloves with an American flag stitched on the wrist. BONUS: Trump's latest financial disclosure indicates that he purchased up to $50,000 in TKO stock, the parent company of the UFC. Some say this is a conflict of interest, while others claim it is insignificant, given that his full financial disclosure included over 3,700 stock and bond trades worth more than $220 million. That's it for today. Enjoy the event, and if you want to learn more about the business and money behind sports, join 135,000 others who read my newsletter. Sign up: huddleup.substack.com/